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RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF MAN 


IN WHICH 

lilt 


Religion an!) Superstition 


ARE 


TRACED FROM THEIR SOURCE. 

\ \ 

BY D. MORISON. 

v\ 


Behold, God exalteth by His power : who teacheth like Him ? 

Who hath enjoined Him His way ? or who can say. Thou hast wrought iniquity ? 
Remember that thou magnify His work, which men behold. 

Every man may see it, man may behold it afar oflf. 

Job xxxvi. 22—25. 


SECOND EDITION. 




/ ^ 

•» 



LONDON: 


4, ; 

* >» « 


SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL. 


1842 




-BU S 

Mi 

I <g4'^ 



London: 

Printed by Stewart and Murray, 
Old Bailey. 




THE AUTHOR TO HIS MOTHER. 


n HE Dedication of the first edition of this work to 
e Queen, was objected to by many; chiefly on the 
roilnd of the improbability of it ever reaching Her 
Majesty’s hands. 

I have reason to doubt the validity of this objec¬ 
tion, for there are circumstances, known to one of 
Her Majesty’s confidential servants and myself, which 
rather tend to favour the belief that Her Majesty 
did personally receive the volume. At all events, 
it was not to the Queen individually, but to Her 
Majesty, as the professed Head of a professedly 
Christian community, that I dedicated a public 
appeal to the text-book of that community. 

One part of that Dedication, however, I have 
always felt could have been addressed with much 



greater propriety to you, my dear mother; for no 
one knows better that the enquiry into TRUTH, 
which is the subject of the following pages, owes 
all its strength to the source from whence it is 
drawn, and all its weakness to the pen of 

Your affectionate Son, 

DAYID MORISON. 


London , March , 1842. 


PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 


In the following pages, the nature of the instruction, in 
Divine things, given to mankind, at various periods, is 
enquired into; and the influence of that instruction, on 
their religious customs and opinions, traced. 

Those opinions have been so various, and the modes 
of worship so multiform, that it would be hopeless to 
attempt such an enquiry within the limits of the pre¬ 
sent volume,—were it to be accompanied by an analysis, 
or even an outline, of each system of faith, or form of 
devotion, which has had its day, of adoption and of 
rejection, in the world. 

Amidst that variety, however, an intercommunity of 
thought has been observed, which can be accounted for 
by none of the ordinary causes that regulate human 
affairs. Much learning, often with eminent success, 
has been employed in tracing that coincidence; but 
such researches have, generally, been directed to insulat¬ 
ed parts of the subject, incidentally arising out of other 
enquiries, and have rested their proofs on reasonings 
which could be appreciated by the practised philolo¬ 
gist alone. 

To account for these coincidences, on general princi¬ 
ples, is the main object of the present work. That 
object is sought for, not by instituting comparisons 



Vlll 


between the various theological and mythological eco¬ 
nomies, and tracing them back to some remote period ; 
but by examining, in the first place, the early revela¬ 
tions made to man, and the mode of instruction by 
which these revelations were illustrated. The First 
Principles, so obtained, are then applied to the several 
great branches into which the history of religion and 
superstition naturally divides itself; and the proof of 
their correctness rests, not merely on their accounting 
for occasional resemblances, but on the elucidations 
they afford of the great and leading features of the 
systems. 

As the subject “ toucheth all men,’’ the utmost pains 
have been taken to divest it of abstruse discussion, and 
to advance nothing but what any reader of the Bible, 
in his own language, may judge of and investigate. 
At the same time, if the key given be the true one, it 
opens up a rich field of research to the philologist, 
and aids the biblical student in the most important 
and interesting enquiry to which his attention can 
be directed. 


PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 


The steady sale of one edition and the demand for a 
second, whilst none of the usual means have been re¬ 
sorted to of giving notoriety to the work, taken in con¬ 
nection with numerous private communications to the 
author from all parts of the kingdom,—show that the 
views herein given of the Divine Economy are obtain¬ 
ing a quiet and patient investigation. 

The author would willingly have complied with the 
wish expressed by many correspondents, that the out¬ 
line of the progress both of Truth and of Error should 
be more filled up ;—hut this would have changed the 
general character of the volume, more than is desirable, 
until the elements of the enquiry are more fully and 
publicly discussed. He has, therefore, merely ampli¬ 
fied and remodelled, in this edition, the opening chap¬ 
ters so far as to meet the wishes of friends, without 
disturbing the course of argument which follows, or 
the plainness and simplicity of demonstration to which 
it has been his great aim to adhere. This amplification, 
slight as it is, may very likely, however, put the 
partiality of friends, as well as the patience of critics, 
more to the test than any other part of the book. 



X 


If this, (by converting doubts into objections and 
sneers into arguments,) give greater publicity to the 
discussion, the time may not be distant when proofs 
and illustrations of the origin herein ascribed to all 
Truth and to all Error, which would now only be 
“ spoken in the ear in closets,” may then be “ pro¬ 
claimed upon the house-tops.” 


CONTENTS. 


S’ 


Xfl 

(V 


O 

a 

• H J 
* A 

P-t 


C« 

u 

• i-H 




Chapter. 

I.—The Creation ... 
II. —Scripture Geology 

III. —The First Man... 

IV. —Language. 

V.—Hieroglyphics ... 

VI. —The Cherubim ... 
VII. —The Firmament . 
VIII. —Recapitulation ... 


Page 

1 

25 

47 

62 

82 

94 

104 

118 


IX.—The Perfect in their Generations. 131 

X.—The Flood. 148 


XI.—The One Lip and the Heavenly Tower.... 157 


l 

XII.— Path of the Just 169 

XIII. —The Shining Light .. 175 

XIV. —The Branch.184 

XV.—The Double.192 

XVI.—The Burning Bush .. 203 

XVII.—The Glory .210 

XVIII.—Stars in their Courses 219 
XIX.—The Knowledge of Witty 

Inventions .228 


XX.—Way of the Heathen 236 


XXI.—Nimrod.239 

XXII.—Astrology.253 

XXIII.—Baal.264 

,, Oracles .275 

XXIV.—Gods . ....284 

XXV.—Idols .296 

XXVI.—The Mysteries.307 

XXVII.—The Pantheon.313 


XXVIII.— The Messiah . 317 

XXIX.—Anti-Christ. 346 

XXX.—The Times of Refreshing . 356 

XXXI.—The Scriptures . 367 


















































THE 


RELIGIOUS HISTORY OE MAN. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE CREATION. 

There are two propositions, almost of the nature of 
axioms, which ought to be kept constantly in mind, 
when surveying the works of God, whether those of 
his visible creation, or of his moral government. 

The first of these initiatory truths is, that, the 
choice of manner, of time, of form, and of arrange¬ 
ment in the works of God, being wholly of Divine 
Will, there must have been some design in, some 
reason for, the mode adopted, seeing that any other 
mode was equally within the Divine Power. 

The second initiatory proposition, likewise nearly 
allied to truths of a self-evident kind, is, that, when 
God reveals any thing to man, concerning his 
works, of which his creatures could not have been 
informed without revelation, the Almighty must 
have had a reason for making it known; into which 
reason it is not only lawful, but the duty of man, to 
^ / B 




2 


THE CREATION. 


enquire. “ Tilings revealed belong to us and to our 
children.” 

When, therefore, a testimony has reached us, the 
nature of which is, at all events, sufficiently extraor¬ 
dinary to have commanded the attention and enquiry 
of the most civilized portion of mankind for many 
ages, and purporting to be a revelation from the 
Creator himself;—it would be as unphilosophical as 
it would be insulting to the understandings of those 
‘ who, by reason of use have their senses exercised 
to discern between good and evil,’ if any investiga¬ 
tion were instituted into the origin and object of 
all we see around us, which did not first enquire 
how far the choice of manner, of time, of form, and 
of arrangement, narrated in it , is consistent with the 
other acknowledged works of God, and manifests a 
purpose revealed for our instruction. 

Applying those axioms and these principles to 
the subject with which the Bible opens—the crea¬ 
tion of the Heavens and the Earth—effected, we are 
told, in six definite periods called days, composed of 
evenings and mornings;—on the first day light pro¬ 
duced ; on the second the firmament; on the third 
the dry-land; on the fourth lights, or instruments of 
light, in the firmament; on the fifth the sea made 
productive ; and on the sixth the land :—what was 
the meaning of this division of time, and of this 
order in the works ? Were they capricious? Might 
God, as consistently with the purpose he had in 
view for the earth, have made it and all else in a 
moment, as he could have done if such had been 
his will ? Or is there any thing in his subsequent 


THE CREATION. 


o 

O 


moral government of the world, in his dealings 
towards it, or in what he had to teach it, which 
shows a consistency of purpose between this mode of 
creation and the future manifestations of himself? 
If this question can be answered in the affirmative, 
we have a noble foundation for a system of nature 
in which the God who directed the pens of Moses 
and the prophets, must be acknowledged to be the 
Creator and Former of all things. 

Before we can arrive at a satisfactory answer to a 
question so important as this, there are three leading 
points to be examined. 

1 st, Under what previously existing circumstances 
was the world created ? 

2d, What was the great or leading object in form¬ 
ing the earth at all ? how far teas that known 
previously ? and , 

3d, In what respect did the mode adopted ansicer 
previous expectations and form a Jit introductory 
chapter to the f uture revelations of its Maker ? 

There are many who will be startled at such pro¬ 
positions—as if we possibly could know any thing 
of the state of matters before the creation ! But if 
it be allowable to quote the writings of the series of 
instructors who followed in the path of Moses, and 
place implicit reliance on what they tell us of spirit¬ 
ual matters, until more accredited and more consist¬ 
ent teachers arise; or until we meet with something 
in the ways of Providence irreconcileable with their 
testimony;—then, we have many more intimations 
of early 4 heavenly things ’ than may at first be 
imagined. 

b 2 


4 


THE CREATION. 


The ministration of angels is a subject much 
insisted upon by the sacred writers; and more than 
‘ one of our own poets * has availed himself of the 
dignity and interest it gives to the affairs of man to 
connect their guidance with these spiritual intelli¬ 
gences. They are described as ‘ministering spirits, 
sent forth to minister,’—as messengers executing the 
purposes of Heaven ; who ‘ desire ’ or delight to 
‘look into’ the things relating to man. Of these 
‘ Principalities and Powers ’ we are expressly told 
some ‘ stood,’ or ‘ kept their first estateand 
some ‘ fell/ That this fall was antecedent to, if 
not at the very time of the creation, is evident, be¬ 
cause we find their leader, ‘ the old serpent,’ early 
at work in the garden of Eden. Besides, He who 
saw him ‘ fall like lightning from heaven,’ says 
‘ he was a liar from the beginning’ even that be¬ 
ginning in which God created the heavens and the 
earth. He who witnessed this fall could also tell 
the employment of those who stood ; and thus He 
says to Job, that when He ‘ laid the foundations of 
the earth ’ those who remained ‘ sons of God, 

SHOUTED FOR JOY.’ 

We shall be much more likely, then, to think in 
such matters, with those men who considered them¬ 
selves while acting on this earth ‘ a spectacle to the 
world, to angels and to men’ —we shall be much 
more likely to think as becomes ‘ heirs of immor¬ 
tality,’— if, instead of trying to fancy the world 
crawling for millions of ages with loathsome reptiles 
whilst itself was creeping into existence, we think of 
it moulded into form and bursting into life in the 


THE CREATION. 


5 


presence of that multitude which afterwards sung at 
the dawning of the new creation, 4 Glory to God 
in the highest, and on earth peace and good will 
towards man! ’ Instead of solitude, myriads of 
angels attending the Creator ‘ hearkening to the 
voice of his words and executing his command¬ 
ments — and instead of silence 4 the morning stars 
singing together and all the sons of God shouting 
for joy!’ This is the scene which the Scriptures 
pourtray;—the grandeur of which will only fully be 
comprehended when 4 we shall know even as now 
we are knownbut it is one worthy of the Begin¬ 
ning of the creation of God : and one which that man 
alone will scoff at who ‘believes there is neither angel 
nor spirit,’ and who has no hope to be 4 in the resurrec¬ 
tion as the angels who are in heaven.’ 

In the presence then of those angels who shall be 
employed to finish the work and 4 to gather together 
in one all things in Christ,'— open to their investiga¬ 
tion and amidst their rejoicings, the Scriptures tell 
us the earth and all the hosts of heaven were called 
into existence. 

But information such as this is not given to create 
useless winder, to beget idle speculation regarding 
what w T e never can in the body understand, nor to 
assist us in framing ideal beings with wings, trumpets, 
and flowing hair. These are the absurdities into 
which all heavenly doctrine degenerates when the 
true object of emblematical teaching is lost sight of. 
When we are told that there existed at the time of 
the creation, intelligences who desired to look into 
(to investigate and draw instruction from) what was 


0 


THE CREATION. 


done—it is a plain intimation that the purpose for 
which 4 all things were made ’ was one that previ¬ 
ously had been known to 4 the principalities and 
powers in the heavenly places ; ’ else there had been 
no reason for their curiosity or their joy. 

This leads us, therefore, to the second preliminary 
point:— What was the great object in forming the 
earth ? how far was that known , and in what re¬ 
spect was the mode adopted fitted to that state of 
knowledge ? 

The words of the Lord of heaven himself, already 
quoted, deserve here very close attention; 4 The 
Devil, * or advocate of evil was 4 a liar, ’ he 
says, 4 from the beginning, and abode not in the 
Truth.’ What was this Truth, this specific matter 
called the truth, against which a portion of the angels 
and their leader objected , as they must have done, 
when they fell from it ? 

We are saved all lengthened discussion on this 

© 

point by the repeated declarations of the inspired 
writers, that eternal life to man was purposed and 
promised in Christ Jesus ere the world began ; 
and this promise is uniformly and emphatically put 
fortli in all their writings as the Truth . Objections 
to this, on the footing on which God has always 
placed it, the merits of a Mediator , must have lain 
at the root of the 4 falling away’ in heaven, as well 
as in earth, otherwise the chief of the objectors could 
not have been said to fall from the truth. 

But this must have involved some Great Principle 
to have produced such effects ;—it must have brought 
into collision, in some very marked manner,—-in 


THE CREATION. 


7 


some manner still traceable in the works of God, the 
opposing principles of good and evil. Do we see 
any such contest going on ? We must first enquire 
what good and evil are. 

Dependence on God, or humility, is throughout 
all his word called Good :—Independence of him, or 
pride, is as uniformly pointed out as Evil. When 
He, who was goodness personified, came, his every 
act and thought was in dependence on the Father, in 
humility and in obedience even unto the death. 
When the professor of the contrary creed first ap¬ 
peared in the world, it was to teach independence, 
with the flattering deceit that in that enviable state 
man would be as God himself: and when he re¬ 
appeared to attack the Son of God, it was to tempt 
Him to cast off his subjection and to assert His 
Divinity independent of the Father. 

The world, then, was to be the theatre on which 
these antagonist principles were to war. It was to 
be a creation for a specific purpose upheld, by the 
word of the power of Him who was to execute 
that purpose ; and if we see that design indicated 
not merely in what are often called 4 Mysteries , ’ 
but following the footsteps of Providence in every 
age, and marked even in the course of Nature itself, 
not alone by a mere ascendancy of the one principle 
over the other, but by the Conqueror actually render¬ 
ing the operations of the enemy subservient to his 
own beneficent designs;— then, assuredly 4 The 
Faith ’ by which 4 we believe that the worlds were 
created by the Word of God’—and as his word 
declares,—has evidence to support it which the pot- 


8 


THE CREATION. 


sherd systems of the earth may strengthen but can¬ 
not shake. 

We cannot long survey the Providence of God, 
either in its workings in the material universe, or in 
its moral operations, without being struck with the 
prevalence of on egreat and leading principle in 
both—that of GOOD COMING OUT OF EVIL, 
or MERCY REJOICING OVER JUDGMENT. 
The dark cloud, while it scatters the lightning and 
spreads abroad the tempest in its course, refreshes 
the burning earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, 
that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the 
eater. Affliction, which risetli not from the ground, 
but cometh, like the cloud, from heaven, afterward 
yieldetli the peaceable fruits of righteousness, unto 
those who are exercised thereby. 

Whether we turn to the early history of man, or 
to the events which are passing around us—to the 
extraordinary acts of Providence towards God’s 
chosen people of old, or to its ordinary influences 
on the world at large; whether we read of miracu¬ 
lous interruptions of the laws of nature, or con¬ 
template the unvarying courses of the seasons, we 
everywhere meet with this great, this predominant 
principle. It is felt and owned by every contem¬ 
plative mind—it bears the impress of Divinity—it is 
that never-ceasing witness to the existence of an 
over-ruling Providence, at which even infidelity 
turns pale! The evil passions of men, and the 
original and constant instigator of those passions, 
may often turn good into evil. The introduction of 
a law, in Nature and in Providence, by which evil is 


THE CREATION. 


9 


made productive of good, could alone have pro¬ 
ceeded from the union of ineffable goodness with 
unlimited power; and it abounds so conspicuously 
throughout all the works of God, as to carry con¬ 
viction to the mind, that it is THE ANSWER of 
Infinite Power and Wisdom, to an opposing or ob¬ 
jecting spirit. 

From the moment that evil, or, what is the same 
thing, objection to the ways of God , arose, it required 
either refutation or annihilation. Now we have seen 
that this evil spirit, or opposition, existed when the 
world was created; and that amongst the myriads 
of angels who witnessed the birth of the world, 
and ‘ desired to look into’ the wonders which the 
finger of God then wrought, there were many who 
looked on with envy, jealousy, and mistrust. This 
is no theoretical or fanciful matter—it is true, if God’s 
word be true. 

E T nder such circumstances, God 4 in the begin¬ 
ning created the heavens and the earth.’ Upon 
that earth, and in sight of those heavens, a mani¬ 
festation of the Godhead was to take place, and a 
discovery of his character to be made, which was 
for ever 4 to still the enemy and the avenger.’ 
Almighty Power is creating matter, that the Divine 
Attributes may be illustrated and magnified ; and 
the spiritual hosts view, with enquiring eyes, the 
development of that universe, in which the great 
question is to be for ever set at rest, and in which 
their ministrations, for good or for evil, are to be 
exercised. 

But how can God thus, as it were, reason with 


10 


THE CREATION. 


the creatures of his will and his power ? How, in¬ 
stead of making that power at once felt and known 
in the annihilation of the rebels, can he thus pro¬ 
pose to answer the objectors, by vindicating the truth 
and separating it from the lie? Even if it were 
consistent with his ineffable holiness so to do, who 
is to be the judge ? Can the vindication of the 
acts of the Almighty be submitted to those who 
have rebelled against him; or even unto those of 
whom the rebels might allege that they served not 
God for nought ? 0 ! the depth of the riches both 

of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! We behold, 
in the solution of this 4 hard question,’ the first and 
great reason for the Threefold Revelation and ope¬ 
ration of the Godhead. God reveals himself, for 
this godlike purpose, Three in One, 4 glorious in 
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ! * The 
Son comes forth from the Father, that the world 
through Him might be made and upheld, a fit 
tabernacle for Him whom the heaven of heavens 
could not contain, to manifest in it, beyond all con¬ 
troversy, the mystery of Godliness and the Divine 
Attributes centering there : the Father delights to 
honour and approve the works of the Son : and the 
Holy Spirit proceeds from both, the evidence of the 
union and perfection of the Godhead. There was 
now room for a promise to be fulfilled, a covenant 
to be ratified, and an oath to be confirmed. Thus, 
4 Qod, willing to show unto the heirs of the promise 
the immutability of his counsel, or covenant, con¬ 
firmed it by an oath. ’ All proceeded from the 


THE CREATION. 


11 


councils of heaven, c from the foundation of the 
world.’ 

Had power, and the wisdom united with power, 
which consists in the extent, arrangement, and va¬ 
riety of works, and the adaptation of means to the 
end,— had these been the only attributes of God 
which were to be exhibited in the creation, it would 
not have been necessary (to speak after the manner 
of men) that the Almighty should have made this 
Triune revelation of himself; nor that the world 
should have been called into existence otherwise than 
by one exertion of the Divine will. But attributes 
far more glorious and wonderful than these were to 
be manifested. The Almighty, in his moral and 
spiritual operations amongst the creatures he was 
about to form, was to do marvels, such as none but 
Infinite Power could effect, none but Infinite Wis¬ 
dom and Goodness imagine or devise. He was not 
only to produce good out of evil, but to make evil 
subservient to his purpose of mercy. 

It was, therefore, a part of Divine wisdom, that 
the visible creation should, distinctly and incontro- 
vertibly, bear the impress of the same almighty 
hand which was to get the victory over moral and 
spiritual wickedness. The visible creation was to 
be the scene of this conflict; it was on it that a 
manifestation of the Godhead was to be made, tran¬ 
scending all that men or angels could have con¬ 
ceived of the Divinity. It was meet, therefore, that 
every whit of that creation should appear in the 
order, and assume the form, best fitted to foreshow 
and illustrate the most magnificent of all the Creator s 


12 


THE CREATION. 


marvellous works—so that “the invisible things, or 
purpose of God, might, at the creation, be clearly 
preached and seen, from the things that were made.” 

But, in now proceeding to consider in what man¬ 
ner the creation did manifest this impress of its 
Creator’s hand, we shall at the same time be fur¬ 
nished with replies for the third point laid out for 
investigation, viz :— 

In what respect did the mode adopted form a Jit 
introductory chapter to the future manifestations of 
its maker ? 

We cannot any where more appropriately than in 
this stage of the inquiry, begin to entreat attention 
to (what will afterwards occupy many of our pages,) 
the true origin of the figurative mode of teaching, 
by which the invisible things of God have ever been 
illustrated by himself, more especially in the works 
of creation. No one thinks of denying, every one 
admits, the beauty of the figure of light, as illus¬ 
trative of the Gospel, and of the God of the Gospel, 
who is light, and in him is no darkness at all. But 
how comes it that nature furnishes us with such a 
figure ? Can it be accidental ? Could it have been 
an afterthought of Him who spake in times past to 
the fathers by the prophets, to suggest to them, by 
his Spirit, the accidental aptitude of the figure of 
light to illustrate the truth ? Or did not He rather, 
who knew the end from the beginning, SO call light 
out of darkness as to constitute the material light, 
the first, the greatest, the most enduring figure of 
the light of life, which the Word, made flesh, was to 
speak, the Spirit to shed abroad, and the Father to 



THE CREATION. 


13 


confirm ? Thus was the material world expressly 
made to illustrate the immaterial; and thus did the 
coincidence between them furnish a mode of instruc¬ 
tion and of illustration, which, w T e shall afterwards 
find, was peculiarly suited to the condition of the 
world, while the promises concerning the Messiah 
were entirely of a prospective nature. 

Let us here, too, for a moment, just turn our 
attention to the certainty of the truth of the Mosaic 
account, which is afforded by such a coincidence, 
and to the amazing superiority which is thereby 
given it over all the scientific theories which have 
had their brief hour of feverish existence. The 
man of science looks on the earth but as a scintil¬ 
lation from one of the many orbs with which the 
universe is filled; and the great modern authority 
for the inefficiency of six days, even in the hands of 
the Almighty, to produce the geological pheno¬ 
mena of the earth, gravely tells us, in a work pro¬ 
fessedly written to prove the being and attributes of 
God from the w T orks of creation, that the Scriptures 
are incorrect in stating that God called light out of 
darkness; but that it must have existed, for thou¬ 
sands of years previously, if not in the present, at 
least in more ancient systems ! Supposing that such 
writers can prove, independently of revelation, that 
there is a Great First Cause—who thanks them ? 
They only prove that which insanity alone denies. 
What man wants to know is this—Is the God who 
made the universe the God who dictated that which 
is called the Word of God ? If the erratic star 
theorists prove anything, it is something far short 


14 


THE CREATION. 


of, if not directly the reverse of this. Now this is 
precisely what Moses undertakes to demonstrate. 
He does not merely say that it was A great pow T er 
or intelligence—A God which made the heavens— 
he asserts that it was God himself ; not an unde¬ 
fined, incomprehensible first cause, but the Lord 
God, whose peculiar attributes, as the just God and 
the Saviour, form the subject of the whole Bible. 
Accordingly, the first proof he brings forward of 
this, is, that the first work of creation, bringing light 
out of darkness, bore the most beautiful analogy to 
the emanation of the light of life and truth, which 
all the history recorded by him, and all the law 
given by him, prefigured. Now, if the expectation 
of Moses had not been fulfilled; if the meaning of 
light coming out of darkness had not been, in the 
most godlike and glorious manner, illustrated in the 
fulness of time, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ 
from the dead, we might have doubted the philosophy 
of Moses, and grasped at the glimmerings of the 
Bridgewater Treatises. But when we find his phi¬ 
losophy and his expectations alike confirmed, two 
thousand years after he was laid in the dust — con¬ 
firmed in a way that none but God himself could 
have devised; we have the most complete and per¬ 
fect evidence, which heaven itself can give, that it 
was the Spirit of the Lord Jesus which guided his 
pen, when he thus wrote, “And God said, Let there 
be light, and there was light; and God divided be¬ 
tween the light and between the darkness.” Thus 
did God, in the beginning, provide a splendid type 
of the work lie was to perform; and thus did he, 


THE CREATION. 


15 


in the end of the world, attest the veracity of his 
servants the prophets, against all the opposition of 
science, falsely so called. 

Ask him who hath watched the bed of sickness 
during the dark night of suffering; who lias just 
come from closing the eyes which are no longer to 
beam on him with affection and fondness; but who, 
while he sits down to read of the morning of the 
resurrection, beholds the first beams of the sun dis¬ 
sipating the shadows of the night; ask him if his 
feelings and his understanding do not alike testify, 
that none but the God who burst the bands of death 
could have provided so beautiful a figure of that 
rising as he now sees beaming before him ? Nay, 
ask the philosopher himself, when the fears of death 
and the judgment assail him in his closet, whether 
the God who showed at the creation that he could 
bring life out of death , or the incomprehensible 
First Cause of the equally incomprehensible infinite 
systems, be the God to whom he would cling for 
hope when dust is about to return to dust ? 

Accompanying, then, Moses, the Man of God, to 
this interesting period, and contemplating the works 
of creation-week as illustrative of, and foreshowing, 
the more important and glorious spiritual works, to 
which all creation was to be made conducive; we 
see amazing wisdom and goodness in the mode of 
operation, as well as in the nature and order, of the 
works, and in the time allotted to each. 

As to the mode of operation, it is recorded that 
‘ THE SPIRIT Jehovah moved’ brooded, or pro¬ 
duced ; forming, concreting, and preparing the germs 


1 6 


THE CREATION. 


of those works, which were afterwards to appear, 
and to be perfected by the light. THE WORD 
Jehovah, without whom was not anything made 
that was made, commanded; and Jehovah THE 
JUDGE approved, and ‘ saw all very good/ Thus, 
in all the works of God, there ever have been Three 
bearing witness; the Son speaking, the Spirit giving 
power to his word, and the Father approving. This 
is the characteristic of every work of God ; and no 
word or work, wanting this testimony, can claim a 
divine origin, or have any title to be believed or 
received as coming from God. On this perfect con¬ 
currence and equality of the Divine Three, the Lord 
Jesus rested the authority for every w T ord he spake, 
and every work he performed. 

In specific times, or days, being allotted to the 
different works, w^e see also the same wisdom. Every 
separate work must have its own day, its own even¬ 
ing and morning ; else there would have been no 
assurance that the spiritual creation would also be 
carried on and perfected within a definite period or 
‘ set time. ’ And, to make it manifest that matter 
is obeying a command, not acting by any inherent 
virtue or power in itself, the work of each day is 
attended by a transition so marked, and an operation 
so distinct from those which preceded it, that, to this 
hour, the seven great divisions of the work,—the 
light, the firmament, the separation of land from 
water, the vegetation of the earth, the fish of the sea 
and fowl of the air, and terrestrial life—all attest, 
from the distinct laws which regulate and uphold 
them, that they may be mutually dependent on each 


THE CREATION. 


17 


other, but that they do not originate as necessary 
consequences of each other. 

And when every operation was finished, God 
rested from his work; an earnest, or type, of the 
rest which his spiritual creation shall enjoy, when 
he, sitting on the throne, shall say, 4 Behold, I make 
all things new/ 

If such figurative design is to be traced in the 
mode and time of creation, liow’ much more appa¬ 
rent is it in the nature and order of the works; and 
how godlike is its first display ! Darkness, not the 
mere absence of light, but material darkness, 4 dark¬ 
ness that might be felt,’ encompassed the face of 
the deep. The Word of God said, 4 Let light be 
the Spirit of God moved, and 4 light was ; God, 
the judge, pronounced it 4 good,’ and divided be¬ 
tween the light and between the darkness ; as it has 
ever been the prerogative of his Word to determine 
the boundaries between good and evil. 

Thus the work of the first day did not merely 
attest the power of God; it was not merely a splen¬ 
did and a surprising operation of his Spirit on newly 
created matter: it was a sign, to all in heaven, of 
the great moral and spiritual work which the cre¬ 
ation was yet to witness; it was a pre-ordination of 
a figure, by which mercy rejoicing over judgment 
was to be preached to mankind, so long as day con¬ 
tinued to utter speech to day, and night to night 
was to show forth knowledge. Well, indeed, might 
it be said of this first work of God in the creation, 
4 Who teacheth like him V 

It would extend this chapter much beyond the 

c 


18 


THE CREATION. 


limits that must necessarily be prescribed to it, were 
we to examine minutely into the figurative nature of 
the other works of creation-week. It is the less 
requisite, as we shall have to refer to many of them 
afterwards; when a closer examination into the mode 
of instruction prevalent in the early ages of the 
world, shall have better prepared our readers for 
accompanying us in such investigations. All that 
w T e wish at present is, to rouse the attention of the 
reader to such prominent circumstances in the Mo¬ 
saic account of the creation, as clearly indicate an 
intention on the part of the Creator to fit his mate¬ 
rial works for illustrating his spiritual; to provide 
in them a storehouse of instruction, in matters which 
could never be proved by abstract reasoning so well 
as by parable. 

For this purpose, it seems only necessary to notice 
generally, the classes of illustration which appear to 
have been provided for, in the work of each succes¬ 
sive day. 

The expansion, or stretching out of the firma¬ 
ment, on the second day, furnished a very important 
class. Man, for whom all was made, was to be of 
the earth, earthy ; he therefore could comprehend 
nothing whatever of the nature or the operation of 
spirit , save in so far as it could be illustrated to him 
by analogy or figure. That he might be so in¬ 
structed, Divine Wisdom framed or stretched out a 
heaven, material like all the rest of the creation, but 
so ethereal in its nature and appearances, as to repre¬ 
sent, and often to be substituted in doctrine for, 

4 the heaven of heavens.’ So admirably is this fir- 


THE CREATION. 


19 


Filament, sky, or atmosphere, suited to this end, that, 
in the Hebrew language, the same word is used to 
denote both wind and spirit; and our Lord, who 
knew, when he framed the expansion, the nature of 
man’s faculties, and the mode of teaching best calcu¬ 
lated for instructing him in spiritual matters, SO 
stretched it out, that he thus referred to it in the 
days of his incarnation: 4 the wind bloweth where 
it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but 
canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth ; 
so is every one that is bom of the Spirit .’ 

Hut the illustrations which this part of the crea- 
tion affords, are not limited to the internal or hidden 
operations of spirit, in distinction from matter. The 
noblest descriptions of the glory and power of the 
Almighty—the most majestic visions of heaven itself, 
are clothed in language, borrowed from those ap¬ 
pearances in nature produced by the work of the 
second day of creation-week; nay, those phenomena 
are, themselves, made the attendants of his footsteps, 
when he visited his chosen people, as the fittest em¬ 
blems of the attributes which invest him. 4 He 
made darkness his secret place : his pavilions round 
about him were dark waters and thick clouds of 
the skies. At the brightness of his presence his 
thick clouds passed: hailstones and coals of fire. 
The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the 
Highest gave his voice.’ When he spake to Job 
out of the whirlwind, or reproved him by the month 
of Eliliu, the figures by which his goodness as well 
as greatness were preached, were chiefly drawn from 
the expansion and its appearances; and when his 


20 


THE CREATION. 


second coming is spoken of, it is in these words, 
4 Behold he cometli with clouds !’ 

Who thus framed the expansion, so that the 
visible heaven should, as far as man’s frame could 
bear it, convey some impression to his mind of 4 the 
unspeakable things of the third heaven, which it is 
not lawful (or rather possible) for a man to utter V 
He, who in the days of his flesh said, 4 If I have 
told you earthly things (if I have illustrated my doc¬ 
trine by earthly figures), and ye believe not, how 
shall ye believe if I tell you (openly) of heavenly 
things ?’ 

The gathering together of the waters, 
and the process of vegetation, on the third day, fur¬ 
nish classes of illustrations of wonderful extent, force, 
and beauty. 

The obedience of the waters to the Divine com¬ 
mand is often referred to, throughout the Scriptures, 
as symbolical of the control of the Almighty over 
the numerous nations by whom the earth is over¬ 
spread. Hence, 4 the waters/ in the hierogly- 
pliical language of the Revelation, are said to be 
4 peoples and multitudes, and nations and tongues.’ 
It is fashionable to talk of 4 the tide of public 
affairs,’ and 4 the force of the current of public 
opinion.’ When such figures are applied, either 
proudly or fearfully, to bodies politic, it would be 
well if it were kept more in mind, that, c though 
the floods lift up their waves, the Lord on high is 
mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than 
the mighty waves of the sea / for they are all under 
the command of Him who 4 stilleth the noise of 


TIIE CREATION. 


21 


the seas, the noise of their waves, the tumult of 
the people / Indeed, when we reflect on the pro¬ 
phetic, and previously determined, course into which 
the destinies of nations have been directed, we see in 
it evidence of the control of the same hand which 
c sent the waters down by the valleys/ and of the 
same authority which said to the sea, ‘ Hitherto 
shalt thou come, and no farther, and here shall thv 
proud waves be stayed/ When the Lord Jesus 
4 with authority commanded the wind and the sea, 
and there was a great calm,’ he did not more in¬ 
fallibly prove that it was his voice, which, on the 
third day of creation commanded the waters to go 
into one place, than he gave evidence that ‘ lie is 
governor among the nations*/ 

As the first part of the work of the third day 
presaged the power of the Son of God over the pre¬ 
sent world and its affairs, so did the production 
of vegetable life, out of 4 the dry earth/ foretell 
the power of his voice over 4 the children of the re¬ 
surrection/ who shall ‘spring up like the grass of the 
field/ Need we remind our readers, that the most 
striking proof in nature of it not being a thing in¬ 
credible that God should raise the dead, is the fact, 
that the seed sown in the earth dies ere it spring 
forth? Was there any natural necessity for this? 
If not, why was such a law implanted in nature ? 
Was it merely to give us an opportunity of remarking 
how very sinyular it was, that seeds, as well as men, 
required to die, ere they could put on ‘ newness of 
life V How long shall we be prepared to own pre¬ 
science and contrivance in natural things, and yet 


22 


THE CREATION. 


be deterred from tracing the prophetic finger of the 
Author of life eternal, in works, which he not only 
claims as his own, but which he himself uses as 
illustrations of the life that is to come? 

We should be tempted to anticipate much that 
will more appropriately claim attention in a more 
advanced stage of the enquiry, were we at all to 
enter here on the consideration of the other ordi¬ 
nations ; particularly of the fourth day, when the 
light was concentrated in the instruments of light, 
or heavenly bodies, which w^ere set for SIGNS, 
as well as for seasons. These are so copiously 
used, in a figurative sense, throughout the Bible, 
that the most superficial reader of it, and the most 
literal interpreter of it, are constrained to own that 
mere fancy or imagination, on the part of the sacred 
poets and historians, will scarcely account for the 
frequency of the introduction of the signs of heaven, 
or the singularity of their application. The re¬ 
ferences already made to the earlier works, are suf¬ 
ficient to establish such a distinct allusion to the 
invisible works of God, at the creation, as prove that 
4 the time, mode, and disposition of the works 5 
neither arose from anv inherent natural causes, ex- 
isting among the materials employed, nor from 
any indefinite choice (if the term can be used with¬ 
out profanity) on the part of Him to whom all 
modes were equally open and easy; but had their 
source in the same unchangeable Divine Wisdom, 
which provided a pattern for the tabernacle and 
temple—in the same Divine love which fitted every 
part of the visible creation, as well as of the temple., 


THE CREATION 


23 


to ‘ utter forth that peculiar glory of God,’ which 
consists in promising mercy, and keeping it. 
Tiiose to whom that promise is valuable, will de¬ 
light to trace it in the works of creation ; and, as 
they trace it, a conviction of the truth and certainty 
of the inspired record of the creation will arise in 
their minds, which the smiles or sneers of science 
or infidelity will in vain assail. They gain, at 
every step, new assurances, that the purposes of 
grace and mercy, which creation testifies were in 
the Divine mind when the universe was planned, 
will continue to be the wonder of all in heaven, 
when a complete knowledge of the mechanism of 
creation shall have stripped science of its intricacy, 
and removed the film from the eyes of philosophy. 

We, who are privileged to have the pages of the 
Bible open to us, do not require to investigate, 
deeply, the lessons which creation enforces; but w r e 
shall neither read the Bible, nor survey Nature, with 
less interest, if we see reason to conclude, that the 
finest images with which the Word of God abounds, 
w T ere originally drawm from a source, enriched for 
that very purpose , by the hand of Divine wisdom. 
Neither shall w r e, in investigating the primeval 
philosophy or theology (for they were then one), be 
able to appreciate its great principles, or understand 
its imperishable sayings and leading truths, if we 
are not so far grounded in the rudiments of early 
knowledge, as to trace, in the allusions with which 
it abounds to the visible creation, not fancied coin¬ 
cidences or imaginative allegories, but illustra¬ 
tions of the invisible things of God, implanted on 


24 


THE CREATION. 


the earth and spread abroad upon the heavens by 
the finger of God himself, to keep alive his truth, 
and to perpetuate the memory of his covenant. 

Let the philosopher, then, please himself with con¬ 
templating the beauty, the order, the infinite extent, 
and the variety in the universe; let him search for 
proofs of the Divine wisdom and power in the most 
minute insect or atom, that floats in the water or in 
the sun-beam; and carry his reflections to infinity 
of worlds, teeming with life, and all upheld by the 
same Almighty power: we quarrel not with his 
avocation; it is, in many respects, a delightful one— 
it is, in many instances, a useful one; and the mind 
may often thus be led from nature up to nature’s God. 
But such reflections come infinitely short of those 
which fill the mind, when we follow the inspired 
penman to the birth of creation; and, with him, be¬ 
hold every fiat of the Almighty illustrating more and 
more, as the works arose, the purposes of grace and 
mercy stored in the Divine mind; until we see the 
whole creation finished, and standing to this day a 
witness to the truth of God; bearing testimony, not 
only that 6 the hand which made it is divine,’ but 
that the same hand made it which penned the 
Scriptures; and that the 4 thoughts towards man’ 
which dictated the Scriptures, were the thoughts 
which guided the hand of Omnipotence when it 
spread forth the heavens as a curtain. 





25 


CHAPTER II. 

SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 

The student of nature often turns to Revelation, in 
the hope of finding those secret operations laid open, 
which his own powers cannot penetrate; and he lays 
the book aside, in disappointment, because it neither 
gratifies his curiosity, nor corroborates his favorite 
fancies and theories. He forgets, that discoveries in 
natural philosophy have, evidently, been granted by 
Providence to him, as the reward of industry; that 
the obscurity in which nature is wrapped, stimulates 
that industry on which the temporal comfort of man 
chiefly depends ; so that revelations , on such a sub¬ 
ject, would have disarmed his curiosity and blunted 
his energy. lie forgets, also, that discoveries in 
science have generally kept pace with, and have been 
in no small degree regulated by, the wants of man¬ 
kind and the state of society : whilst the revelations 
from heaven have been of unvarying importance and 
universal interest. 

As Science will be applied to in vain, for an ex¬ 
planation either of the choice of six days, or why the 
fact forms the first lesson recorded in the page of in¬ 
spiration, so Revelation gives no lessons expressly 


26 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


intended to make man a better astronomer, mathe¬ 
matician, or geologist; although it may correct him, 
when he breaks the bound allotted to him in such 
branches of knowledge ,—practical utility. It is the 
province of the philosophy of the schools to observe 
the phenomena of nature, to explain them by the 
laws which are found to regulate them, and to direct 
the knowledge, so obtained, to the improvement of 
the useful and liberal arts. Scientific enquiry is 
seldom carried, with advantage, beyond this point. 
All the works of God, even the most minute portions, 
or the apparently most circumscribed classes of them, 
are, to human capacity, infinite; and all the industry 
and research of mankind have as completely failed in 
tracing matter to its simple elements, as all their rea¬ 
soning powers have been found incapable of express¬ 
ing, or even of imagining, how matter was called 
into existence, or impressed with its varied forms. 
There is a limit, even to the 4 godlike apprehension’ 
of man; and a bourne, beyond which all would have 
been darkness, had it not pleased God to reveal what 
took place while as yet there was no man, 4 or ever 
the earth was.’ 

Amongst scientific studies, Geology is that which, 
the most decidedly, bears on the subject w r e have 
been considering. Did this branch of natural philo¬ 
sophy take no hostile aspect to revelation, save by 
an occasional idle theory, or the most contemptible 
of all 4 weak inventions of the enemy,’ the ever-ready 
sceptical sneer,—we might well bear with it. But 
when those who sit in what is called Moses’ seat, 
say to him, 4 Sit thou here under my footstool;’— 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


27 


when, under a mock semblance of respect, he is 
spoken of as a very worthy old man, who has had 
his day, and who retains his faculties wonderfully, 
considering his great age, but who had ridiculously 
primitive notions concerning the formation of the 
earth ;—when councils of the great and the learned 
pronounce, ex cathedra , his writings on this subject 
to be either apocryphal, or relating, at best, to a very 
limited epoch in the almost eternal workings of ma¬ 
terialism ;—and when the greatest pains are taken to 
pour this poison into the general ear, through every 
avenue that the macadamization of the road to learn¬ 
ing has opened up — it is time to look about us, and 
to see where these gentlemen are leading us ; — it is 
time to enquire whether they have not been searching 
in the bow T els of the earth for a c new God, come 
newly up, which their fathers knew not;’—on much 
the same principles, and about as successfully, as a 
surgeon setting himself to search for the soul by the 
application of the scalpel. 

To all such reasonings as are now fashionable and 
current,—current even in penny sheets and twopenny 
numbers, — it would be by many, and has been, 
deemed a sufficient answer, that all the operations of 
nature, in the beginning, were brought about in a 
miraculous way; and that we ought not to attempt 
to say how much, or how little, could be done in six 
days miraculously. This reply is generally followed 
up with the remark, that the Bible was not given to 
instruct in science. 

In both parts of this answer, it is scarcely neces¬ 
sary to say, we fully coincide. But with regard to 


28 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


the first part of it,—although God did, during the 
six days, act in a miraculous manner, that is, by 
operations different from those which note appear in 
the regular course of nature ; yet as these operations 
are, to a certain extent, revealed to us, it is certainly 
lawful for us to enquire how far they account for the 
structure of the earth. And as to the second part of 
the answer, it is most true that the Bible was not 
written to inculcate science: but it was given to 
teach truth ; and none of its statements, on any 
subject, can be, in any jot or tittle, wide of the truth, 
or in the smallest degree inconsistent with fact. 

Now, it is stated as a fact , by Moses, not in the 
first chapter of Genesis alone, but in many other 
parts of his writings, that in six days God created 
the heavens and the earth ; while it is as confidently 
stated by modern philosophers that there are facts in 
nature totally at variance with such an assertion. 
Both cannot be true. The matter is worthy of en¬ 
quiry. 

It is requisite, in order to simplify the discussion 
as much as possible, to bear in mind that there have 
been three classes of rocks laid open in the crust of 
the earth ; the lower technically called primary , 
which are not stratified , that is, they bear every 
mark of having been formed by concretion , not by 
deposition :—next above them, lie the transition or 
secondary rocks, which are stratified, and bear evi¬ 
dence not only of having been deposited, but of 
having undergone very extensively .the action of fire 
or electricity :—and above them again the tertiary 
series, containing a vast quantity of animal remains 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


29 


of a peculiar kind. Above these three classes, all 
the depositions are said to be alluvial or diluvial, that 
is, formed by the gradual deposition of materials 
since the earth became the habitation of man, and by 
the disruptions and depositions of the waters of the 
deluge. This is the usual mode of classification ; al¬ 
though there are writers who bring forward very 
satisfactory proofs that many of the formations 
classed with the tertiary , were diluvial; the effects 
of the deluge on the globe being much more exten¬ 
sive, and affecting the shell of the earth to a much 
greater depth than is generally imagined. We 
shall not seek to avail ourselves, however, of these 
researches, farther than to say, that they prove, be¬ 
yond any reasonable doubt, the diluvial origin of the 
upper coal beds, and of all the animal remains bearing 
any marked resemblance to the present races of ani¬ 
mals ; and that they give equally satisfactory reasons 
for their localities —localities which attest, not the pre¬ 
vious existence of the remains in the latitudes where 
they are found, but the direction and force of the cur¬ 
rents of the then turbulent waters. Taking for granted 
that the advocates of extensive diluvial deposits have 
not accounted so satisfactorily for the loicer formations, 
and the extraordinary fossils found there; we pro¬ 
ceed to consider the objections which the usual classi¬ 
fication of the rocks is supposed to offer to the 
Mosaic account. They are twofold in their nature. 

1st. The strata generally are too great, too ex¬ 
tensive, and too thick, to have been rapidly formed. 

2d. The animal remains, and other concomitant 
circumstances, indicate lengthened periods of animal 


so 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


life, during some distant inexplicable ages of the 
earth’s existence. 

The first objection is met by two answers, any one 
of which is conclusive. In the first place, they must 
have been rapidly formed, for they enclose substances 
and forms entire which slow deposition would have 
destroyed ; and they bear many other certain marks 
of quick formation, which Cuvier, the great autho¬ 
rity with all the new school, admits ! 

The other answer modern science itself supplies : 
and it is one which applies to harder formations than 
many of the rocks. Metals in a state of chemical 
suspension in water , are by electro-magnetic action, 
deposited in layers of any thickness with a rapidity 
proportioned to the degree of electric influence brought 
to bear on the water. With this fact staring him 
in the face, with this act done by his own hands, 
can the philosopher cavil at sudden and extensive 
depositions under water , when the presence of strong- 
electric influence meets him at every step ? Let the 
attentive reader bear this in mind, whilst we proceed 
to the objections founded on animal remains. 

The greatest advocate for miraculous creation will 
not be disposed to deny, that the Creator, in calling- 
matter into existence, called it and brought it forth 
fitted for forming and producing what He ultimately 
intended it to develope, as well as what He intended 
to form out of it. 

Now, it is one of those coincidences which must 
make reflecting minds pause, even after descending 
into considerable depths with the geologists, that 
matter is described by Moses as being created, not, 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


31 


according to the philosophers, in a confused chaotic 
mass of primitive atoms, but, in THREE states, 
earth, water, and darkness : for the land was 
only hid by the waters, (or partially mixed with it) 
it afterwards 4 appeared ; and the darkness was not 
the mere absence of light, but a substance , (we may 
suppose a condensed atmosphere) as the Hebrew 
article, prefixed in various references to it, clearly 
points out. We say it is a coincidence , and a re¬ 
markable one, that, as light is composed of three 
primitive rays or colors, divisible again into seven ; 
and as air can vibrate three perfect chords, again di¬ 
visible into seven notes, and no color can be produced 
by the one, nor any perfect note by the other beyond 
that number, so the three primitive classes of matter 
have since appeared in seven different states, minerals, 
earths, waters, gases, vegetables, zoophytes, and 
animals; to which, however modified, and however 
artificially subdivided, no class has been added. It 
is a singular proof of a very intimate knowledge of 
the properties of matter, that Moses should have 
thought, if it were a suggestion of his oicn. t of putting 
forth such a truly analogical hypothesis ! Verily, 
if it was his own, some of our giant intellects must 
vacate their chairs; for none of them have suggested 
any beginning so wonderfully borne out by all we 
see around us. 

Before w r e proceed to the consideration of how 
these three several classes of matter brought forth 
what God had severally fitted them for producing, 
it will be necessary to say a few words, to the rail- 
lionarians, on the subject of time. Time and space, 


32 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


they will grant us, we should suppose, are entirely 
relative. We measure space and magnitude by the 
magnitude of our own bodies;—so does the most 
minute insect that crawls. What we can lift with 
ease, is a mountain to them ;—what seems to us dis¬ 
tant, may be near or perhaps present to greater in¬ 
telligences. And yet, we worms of the earth are 
accustomed to think and to speak, as if space and 
magnitude were something to the Almighty ! and as 
if we required to conjure up multitudes of suns and 
worlds, in order to convey some idea of His power; 
whilst we cannot fathom the most minute portion of 
his infinite works, within the reach of our hands ! 

We reason about Time much in the same way. 
We are creatures of time;—every thought and act is 
governed by it: and, therefore, although we daily 
feel how entirely relative it is, even to us,—some¬ 
times seeming to move on leaden wings, and anon 
swifter than the lightning,—yet we would regulate 
the Eternal by it, and judge by it of the Al¬ 
mighty acts of Him, to whom one day is as a thou¬ 
sand years and a thousand years as one day ! 

Still, as days, which now mark time to us, are 
mentioned in connection with the creation, for the 
important purpose already noticed, and not as if they 
had been required ,—there are two considerations re¬ 
garding the period actually employed in creation, the 
first of which may safely be conceded by the most 
literal reader of the Bible, (if science must be 
humoured a bit); and the other, science must grant ; 
or it is publishing a mass of fables, under the name 
of electro-magnetism. 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


33 


The point to be conceded is, that, at the very 
least, until the fourth day, when the ordinances of 
heaven were established, as we now see them, it is 
unphilosophical and it is presumptive to say that 
the days of creation were of the same duration as 
now. Each was composed of an evening and a 
morning,— one alternation, and no more, of darkness 
and light. This constitutes a day now, as it consti¬ 
tuted a day then; but any one to affirm either that 
it was the same, what we call, time, or more time or 
less time, is being wise above what is written. It 
was the time God saw meet;—of that He says 
nothing, and therefore those who will have it to 
have been, what human beings call, a long period, 
can make any thing of it they choose to suit their 
own fancies, but nothing of it as a weapon of offence 
Days have been altered , in regard to their duration, 
—on two memorable occasions at least; and as we 
are dealing with objectors at present, a few words on 
one of these stumbling blocks may not be out of 
place. 4 ITow plainly it shows,’ say the wise men, 
4 that the writers of the Bible, or the actors in it, 
knew nothing of astronomy, when Joshua is said to 
have commanded the sun to stand still!’ How 
plainly it shows how very little attention is paid to 
the language Joshua spake, when those who ought 
to have known, seem to be ignorant, that there are 
two words in the Hebrew language, the one signify¬ 
ing the body of, and the other the light proceeding 
from , the sun ; and that Joshua commanded the 
light of or from the sun to remain upon Gibeon ! 
Thus speaking the plain intelligible language of com- 

D 


34 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


mon sense; without interfering with any system of 
astronomy ever professed either by Jew or Gentile! 

But the important point, that which renders the 
former of very little moment in the discussion, and 
that which scientific objectors must grant , or deny 
the most obvious facts in nature, and some of the 
most vaunted discoveries in practical philosophy,— 
is, that rapidity of production, when dependent 
on the state of, what seems to us, inert matter, is en¬ 
tirely regulated by the degree of heat or elec¬ 
tric FORCE BROUGHT TO BEAR ON THAT MATTER. 

Here it is necessary to call the attention of the 
reader, to a very marked distinction between certain 
developments of life, both in the animal and ve¬ 
getable kingdoms. There are, in both, certain 
(especially putrescent) descriptions of vegetable growth 
and of animal life developed, dependent on the state 
of the atmosphere, and on the condition of appa¬ 
rently inert matter brought into contact with the 
air; and not on the extraneous introduction of seeds 
of the vegetable or animal forms which are to ap¬ 
pear. The germ may have been there (we leave the 
subject of spontaneous generation untouched, it is as 
open to endless cavil as ever)—but, as it is a fact, 
too familiar and too well known, that certain kinds 
of inert matter, in certain states, bring forth their 
own peculiar productions, without ever having been 
where it was possible for them to have received, ex- 
traneously, seeds of those peculiar vegetables or 
animals which appear;—so it is also evident, that 
there are certain powers implanted in matter, of 
going from one state of existence into another, into 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


35 


animal as well as into vegetable life, whether that 
power exist as a property inherent in it, or in a germ 
which required heat and moisture to develope it. 
Whatever be the nature of the root, the property is 
there;—and, under similar circumstances, is always 
similarly developed. 

But it is observable, that such natural productions, 
as they may, for the sake of distinction, be termed, 
have a limited range ; and that the life, so de¬ 
veloped, belongs chiefly to the classes of reptiles and 
insects. Their number, magnitude , and rapidity of 
production vary, according to the heat, or electric in¬ 
fluence, of the atmosphere and productive materials ; 
—but they always belong to the same class ;—no 
other living form of fish, fowl, beast or creature, of 
any kind, is ever so produced. 

If, then, the matter of which the earth was formed 
came into existence, prepared to exhibit the THREE 
several developments of mineral formation, as we 
term it, and of vegetable and animal life, when the 
influence requisite to produce them was applied ;— 
and if we ascertain, from the Mosaic account, that 
the earth must, at one period, have been under a 
peculiarly excited electric action, — all objections to 
rapidity of formation become as unphilosophical as 
they always have been unscripturah The magnitude 
of the formations can, in such a case, form no ground 
of objection. The giant and the pigmy attain their 
stature in the same time. Are not the minute 
insects, which are born and die in an hour, as perfect 
in their formation as the hugest monster that flies or 
swims ? And if the ordinary state of the summer 

d 2 


36 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


atmosphere produce these instantaneously, would not 
increased energy in the productive power add to the 
size, as well as numbers, of the insect tribes ? It 
will be a curious affair, after all the fuss that has 
been made about fossils, and all the new worlds they 
have opened up, if they should prove to have been 
merely the insects and moths of the infant earth ! 

Our limits will not permit anything beyond this 
mere outline of a few obvious principles implanted 
in nature; and, now, an equally brief recurrence to 
some appearances in the structure of the earth {about 
which geologists are not agreed amongst themselves , 
although they build systems on them!) ere we pro¬ 
ceed to contrast the beautiful and satisfactory state¬ 
ment of Moses with their interminable systems. 

The geological formations respecting which autho¬ 
rities differ, are the stratifications; which the founder 
of the new school, as already stated, thinks indicate 
sudden changes and rapid depositions; but which 
his professed followers ascribe to the slow and 
constant, and consequently, to us. eternal operation 
of the same causes and effects, which we still see 
going on; and which, of course, on the same principle, 
must go on ; so that, as Hutton exultingly said,— 

‘ We see no indication of a beginning , no prospect 
of an end I’ If the professors of this creed would 
throw the Bible aside altogether, they would save 
themselves, and us, a world of trouble: it is their 
professed respect for it, whilst contradicting it, which 
gives any importance to their theories, or calls for 
their refutation. 

It is contended for by these gentlemen, that, as wo 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


37 


see changes going on, through the operation of water, 
volcanoes, &c., which destroy, submerge, stratify, 
and construct, much in the same manner, apparently, 
as all the shell of the earth seems to have alternately 
undergone these changes,—we may safely conclude 
that these operations have been going on, much in 
the same way, for ever: (we shall change the phrase 
when they fix the time.) Very safely indeed!—only 
that w*e contradict the Word of Him who spake 
them into existence; and, after straining at some 
gnats , have to swallow a few camels of considerable 
burden. 

As the materials of which the earth is composed, 
and the agents employed to act upon them, have, we 
are informed by the inspired Word, ever been the 
same (although varying in intensity), it would be 
unnatural and inconsistent not to find similar opera¬ 
tions going on. But to what extent have they been? 
Beyond slightly changing the course of a river, or 
throwing up a speck on the Atlantic, have they 
altered the map of the world, since Homer sung, or 
Alexander conquered ? 

But the changes these existing causes produce, 
though, in some respects, similar, have other charac¬ 
teristics, essentially at variance with the early form¬ 
ations. Could any of the depositions now going on, 
how T ever long continued, form strata of the same 
material , unmixed with any other, hundreds of miles 
in extent, and thousands of feet in thickness ? Is 
there any known sea or lake, which, for perhaps a 
thousand years, deposits carbonaceous matter, and 
for the next thousand nothing but sand ? Is there 


38 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


any estuary which drowns hundreds of crocodiles in 
some moment of enthusiasm, and preserves their 
bones, until its waters, after a few centuries of 
gradual deposition, succeed in enclosing them in the 
solid rock ? 

Whilst these, and a thousand other difficulties, 
arise, on every attempt to reconcile uninterrupted 
action with Scripture, nature, or common sense; let 
us shortly recapitulate the facts which geological 
researches have brought to light, of any real value. 

In the first place, these researches have most dis¬ 
tinctly proved that all the changes the crust of the 
earth has undergone, have been the joint effects of 
fire and water. 

In the second place, they have ascertained that, as 
far as the crust of the earth has been penetrated, 
there seem to be three distinct series of strata;—the 
primary having very imperfect, if any, indications of 
vegetable or animal existence; the secondary having 
some, but not many, and these entirely marine ; and 
the tertiary having a great many of a peculiar kind . 
Above these, the formations are, on all hands, granted 
to be alluvial and diluvial deposits, since the face of 
the earth was made the habitation of man. 

Having extracted this ore, out of the baser mate¬ 
rials, let us now go on to a brief notice of the key 
given by the inspired penman to these things. 

The earth was ‘without form/ that is, according 
to the use of the phrase in other parts of Scripture, 
without beauty, or, rather, fhe external surface un¬ 
varied. It was ‘ void/ or empty, and ‘ darkness was 
upon the face of the deepor, as it is elsewhere 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


39 


said, c darkness compassed it as a swaddling band.’ 
This is the description of a hollow sphere, covered 
with water, and surrounded by an atmosphere, so 
gross and palpable as to receive the name of the 
darkness —not the mere absence of light, but such 
’ darkness as might be felt; such darkness as gives 
force and meaning to this reference to it, 4 1 the Lord 
form the light, and create the darkness/ 

‘ And the Spirit Jehovah moved’ (brooded) 4 on 
the faces of the deep;’ not merely on the external 
surface, but on the layers or faces under the abyss. 
What these broodings were, is not revealed to us. 
They were the secret operations of the Spirit, and 
4 secret things belong to God.’ Ere man can under¬ 
stand or explain all that the earth contains, he must 
know more than has been or ever will be revealed to 
him in this world. 

4 And God said, let Light BE, and light WAS.’ 
Where ? Beyond the surface of the dense atmo¬ 
sphere ? Coming from an older planet, and piercing 
that atmosphere by degrees? NO: We should be 
hypocritical, gentlemen philosophers, if we said we 
were sorry to contradict you—it gives us infinite 
pleasure to say, 4 God commanded the light to shine 
out of darkness .’ 4 I make darkness light.’ God 

made THAT darkness INTO light. Inattention 
to this simple, but imjiortant fact, has indeed spread 
darkness over the whole transaction. 

It is, too generally, supposed, that light dawned 
gently at the first, and broke in upon the earth by 
degrees, much in the same manner as wo now see 
the sun breaking through a cloud. But such a sup- 


40 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


position is at variance with all the rest of the de¬ 
scription. Besides, philosophers know well enough 
there could be no clouds then ! The light 4 was 5 — 
instantaneously burst forth in the darkness —in the 
very atmosphere itself. It was, as we shall after¬ 
wards see, the same kind of light as was subse¬ 
quently placed in the sun; and was consequently 
electrical in its nature. Indeed the word, in the 
original, signifies both light and fire. 

In this condensed atmosphere light or fire burst 
forth; and if its power and effects are, at this day, so 
wonderful, when proceeding from a body ninety-five 
millions of miles distant from us ; what must they have 
been, acting in such a powerful atmosphere, in imme¬ 
diate contact with the earth! Let it be remembered 
that the earth was then under water; and let the 
attentive observer of nature say, whether there be 
any phenomena in the stratification of the earth, 
so far as they can be discovered, which are not 
explained, by the shell of the earth being under 
water while undergoing this concentrated action of 
electric fire ? 

‘ And the evening and the morning were the first 
day ; this was the first circulation of the light 
around the earth, or of the earth on its axis. Here 
was the first great chemical action (in distinction 
from the previous secret operations or preparation of 
the germs to be afterwards developed) on the face 
of the deep;—accounting for, at least the first great 
series of chemical depositions,— the secondary or 
transition series ; which bear evidence in their 
formation, of strong electrical heat acting on the 
waters. 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


41 


On the second clay the atmosphere was expanded; 
when the heat would be, in some degree, modified ; 
particularly by means of the evaporation, which 
ascended in clouds, and the waters above the ex¬ 
pansion were separated from the great deep. This 
alteration on the temperature would admit of a modi¬ 
fication of animal and vegetable life, such as is seen 
in zoophytes, shell-fish, insects, reptiles, and all slimy 
productions of amphibious nature. Now it is par¬ 
ticularly remarkable , 1st, that none of these am¬ 
phibious creatures are aftencards reckoned amongst 
the productions of the third , fifth, or sixth days ;— 
2d, that the earth would be in the very condition to 
produce such things on the second day,—and 3rd, 
that these productions, either of the evening of the 
first or of the morning of the second day, are the 
very remains on which the whole system of earlier 
and less perfect worlds is built. 

In ordinary cases, we should think it, in every re¬ 
spect, more becoming such a subject as this, merely 
to point, generally, to the evidences of the combined 
action of water and powerful heat in the structure of 
the earth, as attesting, with irresistible voice, the 
truth of the Mosaic account: but the opponents 
of it have placed such reliance on the dead things of 
the tertiary strata;—having even gone the length of 
bringing them to life again on the canvass, and 
painting a lovely world for the monsters ;—that it is 
impossible to resist such an opportunity of sketching 
them, in their true colours, and stripping the romance 
of its fairy garb. 

If we have, previously, drawn a true analogical 


42 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


inference, from the effect of heat on stagnant water 
and putrid substances, we should be prepared to find, 
that, when the matter of the earth was still aqueous 
towards the surface, and under the action of an ex¬ 
ceedingly hot moist atmosphere, its productions 
would bear some analogy to those formerly referred 
to; accordingly, the first depositions of the tertiary 
strata are aquatic and slimy shrubs, (the first vege¬ 
table productions of land and water not yet fully 
separated,) on a large scale , the heat of the atmo¬ 
sphere being great, and subsequently carbonized by 
the electric heat in its revolution. And what are 
found incorporated with and immediately following 
this stagnant vegetable mass ? Reptiles and insects, 
on a large scale also , the natural concomitants of 
rapid decomposition. The greater part of these 
creatures existed in slime, as their structure proves; 
and some appear to have supported themselves on 
the surface by excrescences like wings. They are for 
the most part, as every one who has witnessed the 
wonders of the microscope must be prepared to own, 
substantial magnifications of putrescent monstrosi¬ 
ties ! 

It would appear, in short, from all that scientific 
research has found in the bowels of the earth, that it 
was prepared for the habitation of man, by being 
made at first to put forth its strength, not only in 
mineral, but in the most amazing developments of 
vegetable and animal formations ;—that the exuvise 
of these were submerged and deposited, on a scale 
and in a manner that no gradual formation can 
account for; and that these indications are accounted 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


43 


for and explained, in their great and leading features, 
by no system of creation but that which has been 
handed down by Moses; and which, thus, has the 
divine authority stamped upon it, even by the re¬ 
searches of those who have sought to overturn it. 
The rod of Moses is not powerless although he is in 
his grave ! 

On the third day, the great body of the waters 
descended within the shell of the earth : whilst the 
shell of the earth was broken for their descent; and 
such concussions and overturnings took place, as 
overwhelmed, and laid up in store amongst the 
strata, many of those earlier formations which were 
to minister to the wants of man, or puzzle the geo¬ 
logist. At the deluge, the fountains of this great 
deep were again broken open ; a new dislocation of 
the shell of the earth took place, and diluvial pheno¬ 
mena were added to the alluvial. 

On the third day, also, the earth, now freed from 
the waters, brought forth its own proper and divinely 
prepared vegetable productions. And here we may 
just briefly remark, that as the earth brought forth 
these, and all its former productions, whilst the light 
and heat were diffused over the atmosphere, ere they 
were concentrated in the sun, — a simple and satis¬ 
factory reason is thus given, in few words, for that 
which volumes have been written in vain to explain, 
—the tropical character of its lower fossils in every 
zone. 

On the fourth day, instruments of light (as the 
words in the original imply) were created, among 
which the light and the electric influences were distri- 


44 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


buted, so as to guide the motions of the orbs, and bring 
forth, in due and set order, all the appointed opera¬ 
tions of nature. 

On the fifth day, all that moves in the sea and air 
was commanded into being—(not the comparatively 
inert productions of a slimy mass, ere yet the water 
and earth were purified and fully separated.) And, 
on the sixth day, animal life appears on the dry 
ground, which had previously brought forth abun¬ 
dantly for its support. This life was manifested and 
still appears in creatures formed out of the earth, 
like its other natural animal productions, as their 
return to it evidences; but which, under no circum¬ 
stances, are now’ brought forth by it. Therefore 
they are constituted living witnesses to an interposing 
command ; — a command distinct from natural causes, 
and required no less for their limit than for their 
first appearance ; and a command which indicates not 
merely a first cause , but a special Head and Gover¬ 
nor of the visible creation; even Him who is the 
Beginning of the creation of God, through whom 
they live, and move, and have their being, and with¬ 
out whom was not anything made that was made. 
In his own account of his own creation, he tells us 
what agents he formed to produce and to continue 
natural causes and effects : he tells us also when his 
command interposed to call forth special formations, 
to which the former w T ere to minister; and his works 
bear testimony to both. 

To the veracity of this brief and simple account 
of the creation, all nature bears testimony. The cir¬ 
cumstances narrated are few, but they are satisfactory 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


45 


and conclusive; and they contrast, beautifully, with 
the cumbrous systems, which require millions of 
unrecorded years to support them, and which, after 
all, leave the mind lost in a mass of conjecture, and 
in a maze of formations, submersions, deposits, and 
concretions. 

To the geologists we have but a few concluding 
words to offer. It is easy, by the use of a parcel of 
Greek words, to mystify a plain subject; nor will it 
be difficult, by such means,—by finding a shell 
where it ought not to be, or a Mastodon instead of 
an Ichthyosaurus,—to say there are difficulties which 
the Mosaic account does not obviate; for it only 
gives the great and prominent features; and nothing 
is more likely than that many mistakes may be 
made, when we draw inferences from it which more 
plainly refute one theory than establish another. 
But when we see its great outlines verified by every 
new discovery in science;—when these attest there 
were periods of pauses and changes, for which the 
command of authority and the hand of power can 
alone account;—and when we see all nature bearing 
evidence, that, if it were a spontaneous development 
of matter, or left to itself ‘ it must have gone on pro¬ 
ducing new forms, instead of only reproducing those 
which had previously existed—there is such evidence 
of it being upheld and kept in store, for a pur¬ 
pose, at the contemplation of which the stoutest 
heart may quake; that it would be well, either to 
make the word of Him who created it the guide in 
studying it, or to put the simple on their guard, by 
an honest and open rejection of it. 


4G 


SCRIPTURE GEOLOGY. 


To those, again, who go along with us, in tracing 
a much higher object in these things than furnishing 
food for idle speculation, we have only to say, that, 
whether we read the Mosaic account of the creation, 
in its literal sense, as descriptive of the seven great 
operations, which, in six days, or six revolutions of 
the globe, produced all that we see above and around 
us;—or look beyond the natural appearances, to the 
Great Truths revealed in them, for the instruction of 
angels and the hope of man — we are authorised to 
receive the assertion, as literally true as it is doctrin- 
ally instructive, that 4 In six days God created 

THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH AND ALL THAT IN 
THEM IS.’ 


47 


CHAPTER III. 

THE FIRST MAN. 

If a prophet in the Church of Israel, the whole 
history of which w T as allegorical, complained thus— 
c Ah ! Lord God, they say of me, Doth he not speak 
parables V it would be very unreasonable, in the 
present matter-of-fact age, to expect ready acqui¬ 
escence in such views of the Divine Economy as 
have been propounded in the preceding, or may be 
discussed in this and the following Chapters. But, 
as the Standard of Truth is the Word of God, and 
not the Opinion of Man, we shall proceed to apply 
to that Standard for information respecting an early 
world; with the more confidence, that we have 
circumstances afterwards to adduce from that Word, 
which can be explained on no principles but those 
which have already guided us in this enquiry. 

There are some subjects, the dignity and import¬ 
ance of which give steadiness and skill to the pen ; 
there are others, attended with considerations of such 
overwhelming interest, that the mind quails under 
them. Of this nature is the concluding work of 
creation— the formation of man. In the consi- 


48 


THE FIRST MAN. 


deration of the other works of creation, great as 
these works were, and inadequately as they were 
approached, we were encouraged by the assurance, 
that 4 the voice of Him who spake, and it stood 
fast,’ was the Voice of the One Mediator between 
God and man,—of Him who afterwards said, 4 Fear 
not ; I am the First and the Last/ But, in what we 
have now to consider, we are introduced, directly, to 
the counsels of the Divine Three, and the subject is, 
4 Let us make man in our image, after our likeness!’ 
Is it possible, for any creature partaking of the nature 
of Adam, to hear these words, and to reflect, without 
trembling, on the degradation which that image has 
sustained? It is equally impossible for him, without 
being lost in wonder, to think of the 4 exceeding 
and eternal weight of glory’ which awaits those 
whose vile bodies shall be, at last, fashioned in the 
likeness of the glorified body of the Son of God. 
4 How precious, indeed, are thy thoughts unto me, 
O God ! how great is the sum of them ! If I should 
count them, they are more in number than the 
sand !’ 

Incomprehensible, in many respects, as the sub¬ 
ject of the 4 fearful and wonderful’ formation of the 
human frame is, 4 above us, and too wonderful for 
us,’ yet if the propositions, with which we com¬ 
menced our inquiry, are just, there is evidently some 
instructive reason for the Spirit of God having 
recorded the Union of the Trinity in this work. 
We use this phrase advisedly; for to suppose, as 
many have done, that God spake to the angels when 
he used the terms us and our , is not only to make 


THE FIRST MAN. 


49 


created beings equal with God, and to constitute 
them creators; but involves a most glaring absurdity, 
as will be evident by noticing Paul’s language, in his 
Epistle to the Hebrews. He there says, that when 
Christ came into the world, 4 lie took not on him 
the nature of angels , but was made of the seed of 
Abraham.’ Whereas, if Adam was made in the 
likeness of angels, then, when Christ took on him 
the likeness of sinful flesh, he of necessity took on 
him the likeness of the angels also ! But there is a 
stronger reason still against any such supposition. 
The Eloliim (plural of Eloah ) who say, 4 Let us 
make man,’ are described in the original, as creating, 
by a verb in the singular number. In this, Unity is 
expressed as distinctly as Plurality;—a Unity which 
could not have been if the speakers had been distinct 
in essence; and this peculiarity, not in this place 
alone, but in innumerable other passages, attending 
the use of the plural noun Elohim in connexion with 
a singular verb, is more demonstrative of the acknow¬ 
ledgment of Plurality in Unity, under the Old Tes¬ 
tament dispensation, than any formal thesis on the 
subject could have been. It may also be noticed 
that the expression in Ecclesiastes, 4 Remember thy 
Creator/ is literally, 4 Remember thy Creators.’ 

In the revelation to man, then, that he was made 
in the likeness of God himself, it seems to have 
been, in the first place, intended to warn him of 
the important station he was to fill among the works 
of God, and the high estate from which he would 
fall if seduced from his allegiance. 

But this might have been sufficiently inculcated, 


50 


THE FIRST MAN. 


without at the same time revealing to him that he was 
in the likeness of the Unity of the Divine Three. Let 
us briefly consider those circumstances which seem 
to account for such a discovery being made to him. 

The manifestation of One, in and from the God¬ 
head, as the destroyer of the works of the Devil, 
was early to form a fundamental article of revelation 
and of faith. Preparatory to this, it was absolutely 
necessary that man should, as far as his faculties 
would permit, be informed of a plurality in the 
Divinity, and yet of a perfect unity and unanimity 
in their operations. A little consideration must con¬ 
vince us, that, for a ground of faith resting on 
evidence (as faith has always done), the mere decla¬ 
ration of such being the case would not have been 
sufficient; neither would it have been understood. 
Instead of such a declaration, the usual mode of 
inculcating Divine and spiritual truths was adopted; 
that of figure, image, or likeness—a mode of instruc¬ 
tion infinitely more convincing and intelligible than 
bare assertion. Man therefore had a body prepared 
for him, and to that body God imparted ‘ the breath 
of lives.’ In man himself, then, there was a union 
of Three Separate Existences — the Soul, the Spirit, 
and the Body, in one frame, yet all acting together 
in the most perfect harmony and unanimity. Here 
was the likeness, the figure, the image of the Jehovah 
Elohim; and with such evidence of Plurality in 
Unity, it could not be a thing incredible that his 
Creators were distinct in operation, yet one in essence. 
Here is the evidence, in the visible creation, which 
speaks to the conscience, as well as to the under- 


THE FIRST MAN. 


51 


standing ; that concluding work of the creation which 
laughs infidelity to scorn, and gives the lie to Deism. 
Thus early inculcated was the first and greatest pre¬ 
cept of the Law, 4 Hear, O Israel ! Jehovah our 
Gods (Eloliim) is One Jehovah !’ 

The likeness of Man to his Creator, has by some 
been traced in the God-like nature of his apprehen¬ 
sion;—as if finite apprehension were a fit image of 
infinite !—or, in the perfectly upright nature of all 
his feelings and affections;—as if filial affection and 
piety to a heavenly parent, were a fit image of the 
glorious perfections of the King Eternal, Immortal, 
Invisible ! But the inadequacy of all such consider¬ 
ations to account for the remarkable language of 
Scripture on this matter, will be more apparent on 
an investigation into what really constituted the in¬ 
nocence of the first man ! and into the true nature of 
his situation in respect to his Maker, and to the world 
in which he was placed. 

Man was made of the dust of the ground ; of the 
earth, earthy; therefore finite in his nature, and finite 
in his capacities. He was 4 upright ; but that up¬ 
rightness could not have been perfection in the ab¬ 
stract, otherwise he would have been equal with God; 
for, in the abstract sense of goodness and perfection, 
4 none is good, save One, that is God.’ In that 
sense no created thing can be good, for 4 even the 
heavens are not clean in his sight, and his angels 
lie chargeth with folly/ But man was perfect, in 
the sense in which God pronounced all that he had 
made 4 very goodthat is, he was perfectly fitted 
for the place he was to fill in the creation; and he 


52 


THE FIRST MAN. 


was Upright, or Righteous, in the only sense in which 
man is ever said to be righteous before God,—he was 
in a state of entire and perfect subjection to the 
righteous will and word of God. 

Let us look at this a little more closely, for it is a 
point of more importance than may at first be 
imagined. 

It has ever been the peculiar characteristic of God 
to take pleasure in being trusted . 4 He taketli 
pleasure in those who fear him, in such as trust in 
His mercy/ And the full manifestation of the plea¬ 
sure He took in this, was made known when He 
expressed ‘ His delight’ in the Son of His Love, 
4 because lie trusted in Him / Now Adam was pre¬ 
cisely in a situation for the exercise of this virtue. 
Although, doubtless, endowed with every good and 
perfect gift and faculty, yet beyond the material 
world which he saw, those faculties could not enable 
him to penetrate. All beyond the present hour, and 
the scene which surrounded him, rested entirely on 
testimony . He saw much, and knew much ; but 
there was something he could not see; there w*as 
much, his understanding would whisper to him, he 
did not know. Thus there was room for the exer¬ 
cise of Faith, of Dependence, and of Trust. But 
where there was room for these, there would be 
access for Doubt. So long as Adam entirely trusted 
the word of God, and did not doubt, so long he 
was innocent; 4 he was upright before Him, and 
kept him from his transgression.’ From this lie kept 
himself, until, through the seduction of the woman, 
he listened to the question, 4 Yea, hath God said 


THE FIRST MAN. 


53 


so V when, immediately, he put forth his hand, and 
transgressed the Divine commandment. 

These, and other considerations, which now fall 
to be noticed, render pointless the sneer of infidelity, 
at the trifling nature of the offence 4 which brought 
death into the world with all our woe/ The trans¬ 
gression, by which Adam fell, was the first sprout 
from the root of all evil, unbelief—it was rebellion 
against God, an open profession of union with those 
who questioned the justice and the equity of the 
Divine Government. From the terms in which the 
tree of the knowledge of good and evil was spoken 
of, and guarded against, there cannot be a doubt of 
God having revealed to Adam what the evil was 
against which he was so solemnly warned; and 
what the death to which he would be exposed in the 
very day he ate thereof. To suppose that terms, 
such as evil and death , would be made use of to 
Adam, without his knowing what they meant, is 
indeed to suppose that Adam was blindfolded, that 
he might be led into temptation. 4 Adam was not 
deceived’ we are expressly told, on authority which 
cannot be questioned; and if he was not deceived, 
but sinned under a full knowledge of his situation 
and the consequences of his rebellion, then he must 
have been forewarned that the angels had 4 fallen 
through unbelief, and that he stood by faith.’ 

That the first man had been instructed concerning 
the lie, and taught the distinction between it and 
the truth ;—that he knew it to be expected of him 
that he was to stand firm, in that allegiance from 
which others fell; — that he was extensively in- 


54 


THE FIRST MAN. 


structed in ‘ the deep things of God/ as figuratively 
preached in the creation ;—and that the spirit of 
prophecy also was granted to him, appears from many 
circumstances attending his situation. 

His own form, as we have seen, was figurative 
or illustrative of a heavenly truth ; and when Eve 
was taken from his side, he uttered a prophecy 
concerning the institution of marriage amongst his 
descendants, while as yet he had no children ;—a 
prophecy which contained a great mystery or figure 
‘concerning Christ and the church.’ He was placed 
in a garden containing figurative trees ; he lived by 
a Sacramental Tree, the Tree of Life, 4 in the midst 
of the Paradise of God —he was forewarned by 
another figurative tree ; and he gave figurative names, 
as we shall afterwards find, to the animal creation ; 
amongst which, it is most remarkable, was the pro¬ 
phetic name of Subtilty and Deceit , given by himself 
to the very creature through whose agency Eve was 
deceived, and he seduced ! 

It would be as vain, as it is unnecessary, to 
attempt an inquiry into the precise nature or extent 
of the knowledge possessed by Adam ; but the cir¬ 
cumstances above noticed are sufficiently indicative 
of a much more intimate acouaintance with the 

JL 

matters that were afterwards to be articles of faith, 
amongst his descendants, than is compatible with 
the current opinions respecting his situation in Para¬ 
dise. Nor let it be objected to this kind of know¬ 
ledge, that it was premature or unnecessary ; for it 
is no more unreasonable that Adam should have 
been forewarned of the entrance of sin, than that 



THE FIRST MAN. 


55 


the church of God, in her periods of purity and 
simplicity, in her seasons of * uprightness and ‘ in¬ 
tegrity/ should have been told of the fearful state 
of defection and defilement into which she should 
fall; or that Paul should have said to the Elders 
of Ephesus — ‘ of your ownselves shall men arise 
speaking perverse things/ We have been led to 
notice the position of the first man, in this respect, 
not as a purely speculative point, but as explanatory 
of the mode of teaching, or form of doctrine, by 
which he and his descendants were instructed:—a 
mode, not afterwards introduced, by man’s device, to 
meet a state of matters unprovided for or unthought 
of by Heaven, but one expressly provided for, by Di¬ 
vine Wisdom, when the heavens and the earth were 
created ;—one peculiarly adapted to the frame and 
faculties of the human race. 

The considerations already adduced receive great 
confirmation, when we observe how admirably the 
frame and faculties of man are fitted for receiving 
and sifting Evidence. It is, indeed, remarkable, 
that the peculiar adaptation of the body, as well as 
the mind of man, for this purpose, has not engaged 
a greater share of the attention of physiological and 
psychological inquirers. There is something, even 
in the double formation of the organs of sense 
through which evidence is received, which points 
out the sifting of testimony as one of the primary, 
and most important, occupations for which man was 
formed. To this aptitude of the human faculties 
for reasoning by analogy,—for drawing conclusions 
from premises which at first sight appear uncon- 


56 


THE FIRST MAN. 


nected with the result, — for judging of the whole 
by a part,—for, in short, imbibing more readily 
fixed opinions from presumptive than from direct 
evidence,—to this peculiar and predominant faculty 
of the mind, conscience, and understanding, we are 
indebted for the largest share of our enjoyments 
as moral and intellectual creatures. Through this 
faculty most of our knowledge is obtained; and all 
who have studied the phenomena of the mind and 
understanding of man, either in its infantile or mature 
state, agree in this, that the most forcible impressions 
which it receives, are those which reach it in the 
form of allegory, or through the process of inductive 
reasoning. 

Such a constitution is precisely what we would 
expect, in a creature formed to ‘live by Faith,’ to 
be 4 saved by Hope,’ to be supported by Promises, 
to endure Trials and Afflictions, to act from Con¬ 
viction. And when we see creatures so constituted, 
4 made subject to vanity/ placed in this very situation 
of trial, difficulty, and danger, yet surrounded by 
objects calculated to excite, arouse, and interest their 
mental powers; objects calculated to exercise the 
most noble faculty with which they are endowed— 
that of forming conclusions from presumptive and la¬ 
tent evidence; when, looking down from Eden 
through the course of time, we observe them receiving 
lesson after lesson, still more calculated to encourage 
the exercise of the same faculty ; and, when we find 
those lessons recorded in a Book, all tending, amidst 
endless variety, to the same point—that of urging 
them to look through signs to the things signified— 


THE FIRST MAN. 


57 


that of appealing to their capability of sifting evi¬ 
dence—that of exhorting them to hold by the con¬ 
viction arising from that evidence, in preference to 
any other mode of reasoning, however specious, in 
preference to any temporary gain, however great,— 
we are constrained to own, that the hand of GOD is 
here, and that none but their Maker, nothing but 
Omnipotence and Omniscience, could have, all along, 
and in so many diverse manners, surrounded them 
with 4 so great a cloud of witnesses.’ 

In all these respects, save in the absence of afflic¬ 
tion at first, Adam seems to have been similarly 
situated with his descendants. He lived by faith, 
in a state of trial. But faith, being a matter of con¬ 
viction,—being a thorough persuasion of the truth 
of certain propositions, must have had evidence to 
rest upon; and that evidence must have been con¬ 
veyed to him, either by natural signs, or by miracles. 
Mere declaration, mere assertion, might have been 
explanatory , but it never could have served the 
purpose of evidence. Now we are not left to con¬ 
jecture which mode of instruction was employed. 
Pie was instructed by Figures; and the figures used 
were the visible objects of the creation by which he 
was surrounded. We read of him being placed 
amongst figurative trees; and we not only find two 
of them used by Divine Wisdom, in an especial man¬ 
ner, as instructors, but we see him, instantly on the 
conviction of sin arising, making use of another tree 
to cover himself with, the figurative name of which 
was Repentance. We are informed, that he gave 
names to the animals; and, immediately afterwards, 


58 


THE FIRST MAN. 


one of these creatures verifies , in the most awful 
manner, the aptness of the figurative name which 
Adam himself had given it! Is it reasonable to 
suppose, that he who thus acted, and was thus 
instructed, was guided by blind impulse in his pro¬ 
ceedings ; or that all the rest of nature, from which 
such lessons were extracted, was a sealed book to 
him ? Nay, these lessons not only teach us, in the 
most irresistible manner, that nature was the book 
from which Adam was instructed, but they place, 
beyond a cavil, the nature of the instruction which 
was drawn from it, and the mode by which it was 
imparted. They establish, in the clearest manner, 
that, from the very beginning, the invisible things of 
God were preached by the visible. 

In whatever aspect we view the situation of the 
first man, the truth of what has now been stated 
will receive additional confirmation. A creatnre, 
with reasoning powers such as he possessed, could 
not have been inactive; there must have been 
objects provided on which his faculties were to be 
exercised. But to what could they have been 
directed ? If to the phenomena of nature, merely 
in a scientific point of view, the subject lacked 
interest. The garden, nay, the tree of life alone, 
brought forth every thing he required : he could 
apply his philosophical discoveries to no practically 
useful or interesting purpose. If he examined the 
same phenomena in a metaphysical spirit, he would 
only find reduplications of the same admirable 
contrivance—new proofs of an Almighty hand; a 
matter about which he was fully informed, and had 


THE FIRST MAN. 


59 


no difficulties or doubts to solve, for none had yet 
arisen. But, imagine it revealed to him, as the 
specimens of instruction already quoted show it 
was most certainly revealed , that the visible creation 
contained types, or figures, or illustrative emblems, 
of spiritual things,—of a creation, unseen to mortal 
eye, but revealed to the eye of faith in these 
emblems; and what a copious, what an endless 
subject, for enquiry and investigation, is opened up 
to him. It is not, as already noticed, at all neces¬ 
sary for us to know the extent to which he was 
enlightened in these matters ; it is enough to ascer¬ 
tain that this was his employment—that this was 
the mode by which spiritual instruction was given 
him. 

See, then, the creation framed; bearing evidence, 
in every feature, that this was the arena on which 
light was to be brought out of darkness, and the 
good severed from the evil. See the character of 
God, as good, shining in every part of the work ; 
and behold man, placed in it, with an understanding 
fitted to comprehend it all, and the great question 
at issue. Observe, that, before him, good and evil, 
light and darkness, life and death, are placed : and 
behold him seduced to choose death rather than 
life, evil rather than good. The wiles of the enemy 
seem to be triumphant, and all the gracious purposes 
of heaven in the creation overthrown. But this 
cloud is introduced, this shadow intervenes, only to 
make the light shine more conspicuously—only to 
admit a more full display of the character of God, 
as the just God and the merciful : just, in the punish- 


CO 


THE FIRST MAN. 


ment he inflicts on the seducer, by making his sub¬ 
tile dealing recoil on himself; and on the seduced by 
making his crime his punishment; yet merciful, in 
the gracious promise of deliverance, through the seed 
of the woman. 

If Adam had formerly been in any doubt, as to 
what light shining out of darkness meant, could he 
be so note ? or could he for an instant doubt, that 
the gracious voice which he now heard pronouncing 
the blessing, was the same which said, Let there be 
light, and there was light ? Or, could he hesitate to 
believe that the promise had been contemplated 
by Divine Wisdom, when He made the light to shine 
out of darkness ? Let human ingenuity set itself to 
work ; let the brightest intellects combine, to devise 
something to comfort the heart of the poor trembling 
rebel, when he was ejected from Eden. How 
miserably would the finest spun scheme, which ta¬ 
lent and philosophy could frame, contrast with the 
support and consolation that would arise to his mind, 
when he reflected on the evidence contained in the 
creation, that the promise to bruise the head of the 
serpent had been the eternal purpose of the Son of 
God. He would feel assured that nothing could 
frustrate that purpose ; and the assurance of this 
would be sufficient to strengthen his mind through 
the many years of toil and trouble which lay before 
him ; yea, amply sufficient, when ‘ kept in memory,’ 
to make him fear no evil, in that hour when dust 
was to return to dust, and the spirit to God who 
o-ave it. 

o 

Reader, reject all the puerile notions concerning 


THE FIRST MAN. 


fil 

the first Adam, imbibed in early youth ; or the still 
more serious errors regarding him, instilled by pole¬ 
mical discussion, rabbinical dotage, or philosophic 
foolery. He was a man as thou art; and if ever 
man required the hope of eternal life, and the faith 
of the Gospel to support him, amidst the evils and 
frailties of mortality, it was the man who brought 
death into the world—the curse and all its conse¬ 
quences. He was a reasonable being; and a faith, 
adequate to the trying circumstances in which, for 
eight hundred years, he had to witness the conse¬ 
quences of his rebellion, must have been one convin¬ 
cing to his understanding as a man, to have withstood 
all the suggestions of unbelief, and all the temptations 
of him who first withdrew him from his allegiance. 
Would a dark and unintelligible promise have done 
so ? No. God has ever been light, and in him is no 
darkness at all; and we shall find reason, in the fol¬ 
lowing chapters, to conclude, that although the path 
of the just has always been, and still is, shining more 
and more unto the perfect day, it was at all times 
distinctly defined, and gave hope, security, and peace 
to those who sought it. 


62 


CHAPTER IV. 

LANGUAGE. 

In the preceding chapters we have had occasion, 
more than once, to refer to the slender conside¬ 
ration which is generally given to the brief, but 
most interesting, facts which are recorded in the 
Bible concerning the early state and history of man. 
Perhaps, in nothing has this unjust and unpliiloso- 
phical spirit been more manifested, than in regard 
to the subject of this chapter. Indeed, when due 
weight is given to a circumstance, in connexion 
with it, which we shall immediately bring under the 
notice of the reader, he will cease to find fault with 
us for treating with very little respect the current 
notions, whether learned or vulgar, on almost any 
part of the economy or history of the early ages of 
the world. 

Many years have not elapsed since a Professor, 
of high philological character, published a work in 
two large volumes, the scope and design of which 
was to prove, that language had a very rude and 
imperfect origin : that it commenced in the redu¬ 
plication of such sounds as, 4 agg, agg /— 4 wagg, 


I 


LANGUAGE. 


63 


wagg and that, by degrees, as mankind emerged 
out of a state of barbarism, and their wants and 
employments multiplied, more euphonious and com¬ 
plicated sounds were added ; or, as he was pleased 
to call it, w T ere ‘ agged’ to the pristine and primitive 
elements. The work was loudly lauded, and lan¬ 
guage was exhausted in finding terms to express the 
universal admiration which the learned phiiologer’s 
4 waggery’ excited. Seriously, the book was widely 
and extravagantly applauded. 

Now, it certainly can excite no surprise, that an 
ingenious and amusing theory, however absurd, 
should have found a class of followers and admirers; 
but, that in a Christian country, where the Bible 
was in every person’s hands, and generally acknow¬ 
ledged to be, at least, respectable authority ; that no 
one should have been found bold enough to point 
out the utter inconsistency between such a theory 
and the facts recorded there, proves, most unde¬ 
niably, how much less importance is attached to the 
plainest statements of Scripture, than to the wildest 
vagaries of that which is called genius amongst man¬ 
kind. The truth seems to be, and it is a lamentable 
one, that the sneers of those who have gained a 
name for talent by affecting to despise the words of 
inspiration, and the cautions of those who will not 
admit that the Bible addresses itself to the under¬ 
standing, make men shrink from the iceakness of 
admitting its authority, or afraid to look into it for 
information, save through the spectacles of those who, 
in searching for mysteries, overlook the plainest 
facts. 


64 


LANGUAGE. 


Having based our inquiry on the irrefragable 
truth and certainty of every statement in the Sacred 
Records, and on their infinite superiority in point of 
authority, and in respect of satisfactory explana¬ 
tion, over every theory which ever has or ever will 
be broached,—we should not have thought it neces¬ 
sary to refer at all to the preceding theory con¬ 
cerning language, had it not furnished an instance, 
which almost every reader will at once appreciate, 
of the folly into which wisdom degenerates, when it 
attempts to penetrate the past or the future, without 
the aid of Revelation ; and did it not serve as a 
useful warning against the fashionable philosophy 
of the day, in which man himself, with all his 
faculties, is viewed as a thing of spontaneous 
growth — a walking vegetable, an improved zoo¬ 
phyte, or, at best, a civilized ourang-outang. 

Let us give these theorists the benefit of their 
suppositions for a moment. Suppose the vegetables 
or animals become men ; and that all the operations 
of mother earth have reached the point where men 
remain men, and beasts continue beasts, without 
any chance of further metamorphoses — the vegetable 
is checked in its attempts to become a zoophyte; 
the zoophyte is ordered to remain on its native spot ; 
the ass is warned that it will in vain strive to 
become a lion; and the ape, though within a step 
of humanity, is denied the faculty of speech. Men 
begin to walk abroad, proud of their pre-eminence 
over the other less fortunate natural productions. 
They discover that they can make a noise as well 
as the other animals; and of course the noises the 


LANGUAGE. 


65 


brutes make, being the first sounds the men hear, 
they naturally begin to imitate them. Having 
sprung out of the earth at various places, they meet 
each other accidentally. The one wishes to tell the 
other that he saw a lion—he roars like one : there is 
no other way so easy, or so intelligible, of describing 
the creature which frightened him. Another has 
seen an ass, and accordingly brays,—or a hog, and 
grunts. A third whistles like a bird, or chirps like a 
cricket—chatters like a monkey, or screams like a 
cockatoo. Thus language would become a com¬ 
pound of screaming, whistling, roaring and grunting. 
The learned may write as long and as laboriously 
as they choose on the origin of speech ; this is the 
natural origin of language amongst self-taught 
savages, destitute of revelation. 

How beautifully does the scripture account of the 
origin of mankind contrast with a philosophy which 
admits of such objections as may thus be suggested. 
How satisfactorily does it account for the general 
resemblances, as well as for the endless variety in 
language. Proceeding from one family,—the parents 
of which were placed on the earth, perfectly fitted 
in body and in mind for the situation they held 
in creation,—mankind, wherever they emigrated or 
spread abroad, carried knowledge and language with 
them. The changes on these were produced by 
time, by distance, and by differences of habits and 
situation; but were never sufficiently great to obli¬ 
terate all traces of their common origin, and of a 
primeval intercommunity of ideas as well as of 
speech. 

F 


66 


LANGUAGE. 


Still it may be argued, by those who contend for 
the savage-like simplicity of primeval language, that 
as speech was only required for expressing the 
wants of mankind,—when these wants, and conse¬ 
quently the arts, were few,—the vocabulary would 
be small, and the verbs scanty; and that this would 
be the case, even if the earth had originally been 
peopled in the manner recorded in the Bible. But 
what a miserable and sterile philosophy this is ! As 
if man had been placed on the earth for no other 
purpose but to feed, at first, like the beasts that 
perish ! Besides, if language had only been used to 
express wants, our first parents would have required 
no language in Eden, for there they had no wants ! 
Such reasoners forget, too, that unless theology (in 
the proper sense of the word) be a thing of man s 
invention, which has grown up with the other wants 
and weaknesses of human nature, the knowledge of 
God and His worship must have been a matter of 
as much importance to the first man as to the last. 

On applying to the source of all correct inform¬ 
ation on this matter, we receive it as conclusive as it 
is satisfactory. We find man in possession of this 
faculty as perfect as all the other gifts of Heaven to 
him were; so perfect, that he is fitted by it to hold 
converse with his Maker;—to manifest, in the use he 
made of it, when the woman w r as taken from his 
side, that he understood the purposes of Heaven in 
her formationto give names to all the animal 
creation;—to frame, with it, an artful palliation of 
his conduct in eating of the forbidden tree;—and, 
on his expulsion from Eden, to express, with it, his 


LANGUAGE. 


67 


belief in the nature of the promise, by giving a sin¬ 
gularly prophetic name to the woman, because she 
was to be the mother of Him ‘ unto whom all were 
to live !’ 

These uses and applications of language by the 
first man, are indicative of anything rather than 
sterility in its composition ; and are quite sufficient, 
could we ascertain nothing more respecting it, to 
corroborate the views already expressed, regarding 
the object and purpose of Heaven in placing man on 
the earth, as well as those regarding the extent of the 
instruction which Adam possessed in Divine things. 
But it so happens, that we are in possession of ample 
proof of what the language actually was, and of the 
subjects and objects to which it was peculiarly ad¬ 
apted. The proof of this is, fortunately, of a nature 
which no sophistry can undermine, and which it re¬ 
quires nothing but the exercise of ordinary reasoning 
powers and common sense to understand. 

Amongst other applications of language, by our 
first parents, was that of giving proper names, ac¬ 
companied by reasons for bestowing them. It surely 
requires no argument to demonstrate, that the name 
and reason for bestoicing it , can correspond in no 
other language than that used by the person who 
gives the name. Now, what Adam did and said, 
is recorded in the language in which the name, and 
the reason of the name, correspond—the record, 
therefore, is written in the language he employed . 
- It can be written in no other, otherwise the names, 
and the reason for them, could not agree, as they do, 
in every case. 


68 


LANGUAGE. 


This is so self-evident and plain, that illustrations 
or arguments run a risk of darkening it; nevertheless, 
lest we should appear to arrive at a conclusion too 
readily, in so knotty a point as the antediluvian lan¬ 
guage, we must attempt some exemplifications of it. 

In the Gospel according to Matthew, (which it is 
agreed was first written in Hebrew, and then trans¬ 
lated into Greek), when a Hebrew proper name 
occurs, given for a specific reason, the name itself 
is generally translated , before the reason for bestow¬ 
ing it can be explained. Thus, in the instance of 
the name Immanuel; before the Greeks could under¬ 
stand the cause of such a name being given, it was 
necessary to translate the name, and to tell what it 
meant, 4 being interpreted/ If, therefore, the account 
of what Adam did, had been written by Moses in a 
language different from that which Adam himself 
used, he would have required to have translated the 
names, and to have added to each of them this 
note, 4 which being interpreted into Hebrew, means’ 
so and so. But Moses never required to add such 
a note, for this plain and obvious reason, that he 
wrote in the same language which Adam spoke. If 
Adam called the name of the woman 4 Ishah,’ 
because she was taken out of 4 Ishi,’ (man)—if 
he afterwards called her 4 Hava,’ because she was 
to be the mother of all 4 Havai,’ (living)—if Eve 
called her son 4 Cain/ because she said 4 Cainthi,’ 
(I have gotten)—it is surely a w^aste of words to 
adduce any other proof that they used the language 
in which 4 Isln means 4 man ,’—‘ Havai,’ 4 living ,’— 
and 4 Cainthi,’ 4 / have gotten .’ 


LANGUAGE. 


69 


Having, thus, most incontrovertible evidence 
that the antediluvian records, as we have them in 
the Hebrew Bible, are written in the primeval lan¬ 
guage of the world, (or in a dialect of it so little 
changed, as to require no such explanatory notes 
about the giving of names, as were indispensable in 
those portions of the Scriptures which were written 
in a subsequently translated tongue), we shall now 
proceed to a more difficult part of the subject; that 
of endeavouring to convey, to those unacquainted 
with the original language of the Scriptures, some 
idea of the structure of that language, of its capa¬ 
bilities, and of the matters to which it was 'peculiarly 
applicable. 

The chief difficulty here consists in this, that 
modern languages, European especially, possess 
almost none of that which was the very essence and 
excellence of the sacred tongue; so that we have to 
attempt to describe a quality in language not merely 
new to most of our readers, but for defining which 
there is almost a lack of terms, in the English lan¬ 
guage, and for illustrating which there is a want of 
any property in modern speech to compare it with. 
In modern languages words are mere conventional 
sounds, of no importance in themselves, save that 
which custom gives them; and their meaning is 
often undergoing changes, through caprice, fashion, 
accident, or the gradual operation of time. Thus, 

6 piety / which at the time the English translation of 
the Bible was made, meant c filial affection/ is now 
used to designate religious feelings generally; 4 pre¬ 
vent J ’ in the sense of going before; *&$/ in the 


70 


LANGUAGE. 


sense of hinder, are now never used. No one could 
recognise in the ideas which are now attached to 
the words 4 sanctify ,’ 4 sanctification ,’ and 4 saints ,’ 
their primary and only proper meaning, i. e. 4 sepa¬ 
rate,’ 4 separation,’ and 4 separated.’ 4 Virtue has 
undergone many strange mutations ; 4 faith ’ no longer 
means 4 belief upon evidence,’ but a blind assent 
without it to something inexplicable; 4 church ’ does 
not now mean the congregation, but the house in 
which they assemble. The catalogue of such muta¬ 
tions is endless; and the cause of them all is to be 
traced to that property in modern language so well 
described in the hacknied quotation, that 4 The rose 
by any other name would smell as sweet.’ This 
ductility, or versatility, in modern languages, may 
have its advantages; but it has one grievous and 
vexatious disadvantage in regard to sacred matters, 
—that of rendering vague and indefinable things that 
were, at one time, of a fixed and determinate and 
simple signification. 

It is scarcely possible to imagine any medium for 
expressing ideas more diametrically opposed to such 
flexibility, than the language in which Adam spoke 
and Moses wrote. It may appear, at first, almost 
incredible, to any one merely acquainted with lan¬ 
guage as it now is, composed of arbitrary syllables 
and sounds,—but it may be stated, in perfect consist¬ 
ency with all that we now can learn of the sacred 
language in its early vigour,—that it must have been 
a most difficult task to use a word in a perverted 
sense; in fact, the meaning could not be changed 
without altering the word itself. A circumstance 


LANGUAGE. 


71 


familiar to every one will show the truth of this. 
Whenever, at any period, the worship of Jehovah 
was departed from, the name was laid aside, and 
some other, such as Baal, substituted. Owing to 
the indeterminate nature of modern language, there 
may be fifty different kinds of worship, and as many 
contradictory and opposing ideas concerning the 
object of that worship, yet all of them are called 
worshipping the Lord. It could not have been so 
of old. The meaning inherent in, and inseparable 
from, the word Jehovah , was so determinate, that it 
was impossible for the worshipper to retain the name 
and at the same time change his opinions in religi¬ 
ous matters. Hence, when Moses is about to go to 
the Israelites in Egypt, he desires to know the name 
of the God who sent him. Pharaoh worshipped 
God as well as the Israelites; but he said, 1 Who is 
Jehovah , that I should obey him V He did not 
question the mission of Moses and Aaron, or deny 
that some great power enabled them to work mira¬ 
cles ; but he did not recognise or acknowledge in 
that name the unchangeable attributes of the God of 
the whole earth. He did not say, ‘ I confess Jehovah 
as well as you, although I do not think he sent you/ 
He said, ‘ Who is Jehovah V The Israelites put 
no such question: the name conveyed to them the 
attributes of the God of their fathers, ‘and they 
bowed the head and worshipped/ 

The cause of this inflexibility in the sacred lan¬ 
guage, this strict adherence to truth , is owing to a 
singular and beautiful provision in its construction; 
that of every word being referable to one or other of 


72 


LANGUAGE. 


a number of primitive words or roots, the original 
ideas connected with which were simple, clear, and 
unchangeable. As the branch clearly indicated, by 
its construction, the root from whence it sprung, it 
would, while the language w r as alive , have been as 
impossible to transfer a word to a wrong stock, as to 
have cut off a branch from a living tree and to have 
placed it on one of a different species, without having 
the forgery instantly detected. The language has 
lain so long dead , that such transferences are now 
not so easily traced ; and, no doubt, many a serious 
one has been committed by blundering as well as 
by wicked hands. Still, the providence of God 
had so wonderfully converted rabbinical superstition 
into a means of preservation, that, if we cannot at all 
times trace a word back to its source, it can be done, 
and has been done, in a sufficient number of cases, to 
place beyond a doubt the existence of this quality 
and property in the language, at the time the Scrip¬ 
tures were penned : in a sufficient number of cases, 
too, to place the general scope, meaning and design 
of the facts recorded equally beyond cavil; except¬ 
ing on the part of those who try to hide their igno¬ 
rance of the language, under affected admiration of 
Butler’s profane and silly sneer at ‘ Hebrew roots’ 
in ‘ barren ground.’ It may be worth the conside¬ 
ration of such cavillers, whether the barrenness of the 
ground, to which they are transplanted, may not be 
one cause why the truths of the Scriptures, which 
have all sprung from Hebrew roots, so seldom flourish 
in the fields of philosophy. It w T as no barren ground 
which produced the history of Joseph, the Psalms, 


LANGUAGE. 


73 


and the Prophets; and the wilderness of the gen¬ 
tile world never became a fruitful field, until the living 
■waters broke through the sealed fountain of the Jew¬ 
ish church, which they had so long nourished, and 
went out from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of 
the earth. 

It will naturally occur to every reader, that a lan¬ 
guage, such as we have been endeavouring to de¬ 
scribe, could not have had a barbarous or rude origin; 
it could not have sprung from nouns or names of 
things capriciously bestowed. Accordingly we find, 
on tracing the words of the primeval language to 
their roots or originals, that these roots were verbs of 
action ; and, what is of no small interest and impor¬ 
tance in reference to our present enquiry, these 
active verbs w T ere evidently drawn from operations 
and appearances in nature, such as shooting forth, 
stretching out, shining, burning, increasing, dimi¬ 
nishing, circling, rolling, and others of the same 
class. Another striking peculiarity in these roots is, 
that they are all in the third person preterite ; thus, 
he created , he spake , he shone , are the roots of the 
verbs to create, to speak, to shine:—so distinctly 
does language refer its rudiments to the Beginning of 
the creation of God. 

We cannot too strenuously urge attention to these 
elements, out of which the primeval language w’as 
formed; as it will greatly conduce to a just appre¬ 
ciation of the modes of instruction which naturally 
arose out of such a form of speech, or were fitly 
and beautifully engrafted on it. And if due consi¬ 
deration be given to the circumstances in which the 


7 4 LANGUAGE. 

first man was placed, it will be abundantly evident 
that the origin we have ascribed to language is not 
only the natural one, but is the only one from which 
a primitive language could have been drawn, by 
which it was possible for him to express the feelings 
or emotions of his mind. To give utterance to 
these emotions would be one of the first applica¬ 
tions he would make of language. Now, in doing 
so, he could not use, intelligibly, a mere arbitrary 
sound; that sound, to be intelligible, must have been 
connected or associated with some previously un¬ 
derstood matter or thing. This would have been 
equally requisite, whether the language came by 
intuition or by revelation. A familiar example will 
enforce this better than argument. He wished to 
express ‘happiness! Now, unless his Maker had 
told him that, when he was happy, he was to use 
such or such a word—a supposition too absurd to 
be entertained for a moment—how could he devise 
a mode of giving utterance to such a feeling, such 
utterance as would have been understood by his 
‘ helpmeet V In no possible way but by borrowing 
a figure from the appearances or operations of na¬ 
ture, such as the springing forth of light. His 
descendants now use arbitrary sounds to express 
feelings or invisible things , because custom has 
affixed a meaning to those sounds; but, at the 
period of which we write, there was, of course, no 
previous use, no precedent to give a key to the 
expression employed. In short, the more closely 
the subject is investigated and thought of, the more 
evident it will appear, that the visible objects and 


LANGUAGE. 75 

operations of nature must have furnished the ele¬ 
ments of language; and that the figurative use of 
the elements, so obtained, was the most natural, 
the most beautiful, and the most forcible mode of 
expressing invisible things, whether those pertain¬ 
ing to the human mind or to the spiritual creation. 

We have previously ascertained, from the proper 
names and their meanings, that the language in 
which the Inspired Record of the Antediluvian 
world is written, was essentially the language used 
by Adam himself. We have now been considering 
an additional confirmation of this, in the correspon¬ 
dence between the structure of that language and 
the mode in which, nature itself teaches us, he would 
most readily apply it to the expression of his mental 
or religious feelings or ideas. But there is a more 
remarkable circumstance than either of these, which 
still remains to be noticed, and one which, above all, 
we are anxious to convey some idea of to the reader 
who is unacquainted with the structure of the sacred 
language. 

This circumstance, of much importance, and 
often to be referred to in the course of our inquiry, 
is the curious mode in which nouns or names of 
things are derived from the primitive verbs, to which 
we have already alluded, and the still more singular 
manner in which they are applied to natural objects. 

Let us first, by an example, endeavour to convey 
some idea of the highly philosophic and forcible 
mode by which derivatives clearly proved the parent 
stock from whence they came, and carried a mean¬ 
ing with them which it was impossible to pervert 


76 


LANGUAGE. 


or misunderstand, so long as the root was known. 
In the instance we are now about to give, will also 
be seen a confirmation of what has been stated, 
respecting the primary ideas or verb a having sprung 
from the operations of nature, as well as an illus¬ 
tration of the aptitude of the sacred language to teach 
by metaphor. 

Adam was told that ‘ in the sweat of his face he 
was to eat bread.* Now, although he had never 
heard the word translated 4 sweat ’ before, he would 
at once perceive its meaning. The primary idea 
or verb from which it is derived, is the compressive 
power in nature by which the sap is driven through 
trees, and vegetation generally carried on. But 
the construction of the derivative noun, implying 
that it was to be through constraint, as if a heavy 
burden were laid on, he learned from this that it was 
to be accompanied by much travail. Naturally , 
then, the word translated sweat , was associated in 
the early language with ideas of bodily labour and 
fatigue — metaphorically , it expressed in that lan¬ 
guage mental disquietude, arising from something 
heavy on the mind ; and, theologically , it came to be 
applied to the vanities, idolatries, and laborious 
exercises by which mankind corrupted the truth of 
God, and made it a source of disquiet to the mind 
instead of comfort. 

This instance may, in some degree, though feebly, 
serve to convey an impression of the expressive 
power implanted in early language by the connexion 
which always subsisted between the roots and the 
branches, however extended or spread out—of the 


LANGUAGE. 


77 


difficulty of corrupting ideas without altering or 
wholly removing words —of the adaptation of the 
primitive language to metaphorical illustration — 
and of the tendency it would beget, in those who 
used it, to draw figurative lessons from the objects 
and operations in nature : ‘ to find tongues in trees, 
books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and 
good in every thing/ 

But, as already noticed, the application of words, 
so derived, as names to natural objects , is, perhaps, 
the most singular trait in the sacred language: and 
it is an exceedingly curious and interesting one, 
when we remember that c God brought every beast 
of the field and every fowl of the air unto Adam, to 
see what he would call them : and whatsoever 
Adam called every living creature that was the name 
thereof 

Greatly as the key to these names has been lost, 
impossible as it is found in many cases to trace 
them to their originals, the bestowal of them, 
according to some fixed plan of a metaphorical 
nature, is abundantly evident. We shall afterwards 
have occasion to notice particularly the surprising 
application of these animal forms to doctrinal pur¬ 
poses ; at present we shall only entreat the reader to 
consider what an incomparably superior power the 
nouns or names in such a language would possess, 
for metaphorical purposes, over what they possibly 
can do in any language where they are merely 
arbitrary and not derivative ; at least not so distinctly 
derivative as to carry their meaning in their sound. 
Take for instance the word * serpent; we connect 


78 


LANGUAGE. 


ideas of subtilty with it, from its appearance and 
from its history. Those who understood the sacred 
language, had not only the same circumstances asso¬ 
ciated with it in their minds, but the name 4 nahash ,’ 
given to it by Adam, intimated that it was the very 
impersonation of subtilty and craft, united with 
superior wisdom and supernatural intelligence. 

We should here close our remarks on early lan¬ 
guage, but there is a part of the subject which, 
although not immediately affecting our enquiry, is 
too interesting, and has occasioned too much contro¬ 
versy, to be passed over unnoticed; that is, the 
probable period of the introduction of letters, or 
characters representing words. We must be brief on 
this, for we have already exceeded the limits designed 
for this part of our enquiry, important as it is. 

Much argument has been expended on this sub¬ 
ject ; there are two circumstances which have been 
but little observed. The reader who has gone along 
with us, in the preceding remarks, will merely re¬ 
quire to be reminded of them in order to come to a 
satisfactory conclusion. 

In the first place, has the difficulty, if not impos¬ 
sibility, of creating signs to represent a progressive 
language, such as we have attempted to describe,— 
has the difficulty of this, after the language has 
progressed for many ages, received that consideration 
which it deserves? We think it has not; and the 
more the intricacy and difficulty of fixing on signs, 
suited to represent the varied roots and branches of 
the sacred language, is reflected on, the more appa¬ 
rent will the improbability (to use the lightest term) 


LANGUAGE. 


70 


appear of it having been the work of Moses, or of any 
man, inspired or uninspired. A language without 
signs can scarcely be methodical or regular in its 
construction. A branchial or derivative language 
without signs is all but impossible; and a derivative 
language, existing and branching out for thousands 
of years without signs, and then having them so 
devised as to suit every root or branch pertaining to 
it, is past the comprehension or belief of any rational 

In the second place, there is not a reader of the 
Bible, however unacquainted with the language in 
which it was originally written, who is not aware 
of the astonishing effect of the introduction, or of 
the change of one letter in the word. The instance 
of the word Abram will suffice. Abram signifies 
the ‘high or mighty Fatherone letter introduced 
so as to change it to Abraham, altered the meaning 
to ‘ the Father of many nations/ The same power 
in individual letters existed in the time of Adam, 
as the instances formerly quoted prove. Could the 
language have possessed such a property without 
visible signs ? The thing is impossible. A sound 
could not have accomplished it; for the same letter, 
according to its position or connexion, produced 
very different effects. These effects were produced 
bv single consonants , not by syllables or sounds, and 
these simple consonants are so expressive and power¬ 
ful that even the roots formed of them are not capri¬ 
cious compounds, so that there is not an arbitrary 
union of two letters in all the primitive speech. A 
language, the single letters or consonants of which 



80 


LANGUAGE. 


possessed such power, without signs for such con¬ 
sonants, is an absurdity, which only reluctance to 
own that language, in all its parts, was the gift of 
God, would ever have dignified even by the name 
of a supposition. 

Unless, therefore, we are prepared to admit the 
most glaring difficulties and absurdities, we are 
driven to the conclusion, that language, in its signs 
as well as its sounds, was the gift of God to Adam— 
a gift, which even the glimpses we can now obtain 
of it, prove to have been worthy of the source from 
which it came. It bears the marks of having been 
fitted to convey to man, at the first, the clearest 
conceptions of the powers, properties, laws, and 
operations, by which the Former of all things 
ordained that the universe should be sustained;— 
to enable him, from them, metaphorically, to ex¬ 
press the passions, emotions, and feelings of his 
own mind and affections—and, from them, to un¬ 
derstand, so far as finite capacity could do, the 
spiritual operations of God’s greater creation, of 
which the visible universe was a figure. It appears, 
also, to have possessed, in a most remarkable man¬ 
ner, the property of giving immutability to the 
ideas or opinions expressed by it—so far at least as 
to prevent a change of opinion without a change of 
language; and it was thus the proper, the Divine 
vehicle for expressing and perpetuating the Truth of 
God : and the names or nouns formed of its elements 
seemed, most miraculously, framed for rendering 
every object, animate or inanimate, to which they 


LANGUAGE. 


81 


were applied, the bearer of some figurative or pro¬ 
phetic lesson. 

That language, darkened and disfigured, alas! by 
rabbinical puerilities and heathen attempts to twist 
it to the rules of more worldly tongues, we still have in 
our hands—it still retains traces of its Divine origin, 
sufficiently plain to commend itself to the understand¬ 
ing of every one who is bold enough to refuse to look 
at Divine Truths through the mists of Paganism, or 
to estimate Revelation by the criteria of Philosophy. 




G 


82 


CHAPTER Y. 

HIEROGLYPHICS. 

The preceding discussions have been gone through, 
not for the purpose of establishing certain abstract 
theories in regard to creation, to the first man, and 
to language, but to correct the current erroneous 
notions respecting these matters, by giving due 
weight to the inspired record; and so pave the way 
for a more just estimate of the curious and interest¬ 
ing subjects before us. It is scarcely necessary to 
say, to such readers as have followed us thus far in 
the enquiry, that we are disposed to take a very 
different view of the origin and design of hiero¬ 
glyphic representation, from that which is generally 
received in the world, or countenanced by the learned. 
We shall not, therefore, waste our limited space in 
combating the current opinions regarding hiero¬ 
glyphics, as having been antecedent to or the first 
rude attempts at letters ; for unless our premises 
have been unfounded, and our deductions false, lan¬ 
guage and its signs must have existed long before 
any of the hieroglyphics, still extant, were pourtray- 
ed. Besides, it is perfectly plain that if hieroglyphics 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 


83 


had been the rude and imperfect precursors of letters, 
they would have gone into disuse on the appearance 
of the more improved method of pourtraying ideas, 
or have remained in use for a time only amongst the 
illiterate; whereas we know that they continued in 
use long after letters are, by all, acknowledged to 
have been introduced, and that not amongst the 
vulgar, but amongst the most learned class of the 
community, the priests. Rejecting such theories as 
unsatisfactory, and incompatible with established 
and incontrovertible facts, let us enquire whether a 
more truly philosophical and satisfactory origin is 
not to be found for them, in the aptitude of the mind 
of man to receive instruction by means of allegory ; 
and, whether the early existence of such figurative 
representations be not a convincing proof that the 
principles contended for, in the preceding chapters, 
are well founded. 

We shall in vain attempt to take a just view of 
this subject, if we do not keep in mind the widely 
different nature of the thoughts and employments of 
mankind, in the primeval ages of the world, from 
what they have become in a more artificial state of 
society and manners. We must also remember, that 
a great change has taken place in this respect since 
‘ the Desire of all nations’ has come ; and since the 
revelations from heaven have assumed the aspect of 
a finished testimony regarding a matter that has been 
perfected, instead of all being of a prospective and 
expectant nature. At the same time, although this 
remarkable change has taken place, there has, in 
every age, been this intercommunity of thought— 


84 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 


there lias always been a something concerning the 
unseen world (‘ the world to come, whereof we 
speak,’) resting on testimony . This something un¬ 
seen, and therefore a matter of faith and hope, has 
at all times been of equal importance to man. He 
would just have as many and as anxious thoughts 
about it in the first century of the world, as he now 
can have, when ‘ the world is grown old ;’ and it was 
just as necessary that he should be instructed re¬ 
garding it then as now. But the modes of instruc¬ 
tion he would require, when every thing was 
prospective, would, as well as his thoughts con¬ 
cerning it, be quite different from what they are, now 
that ‘the good thing promised to the fathers hath 
been fulfilled to their children.’ 

Very different was ‘the instruction in righteous¬ 
ness’ required then from what is now given. ‘ We 
all with open face' are called to look on that which 
was manifested. They all, as well as Moses, looked 
and spoke through a veil. We behold the bow in 
the cloud as in the clear shining after rain—they 
were under the cloud and in the sea. The mode 
of instruction was, therefore, suited to those who 
were in a state of expectation, and it was made 
not only suitable to them, but subservient to the 
faith which was afterwards to be revealed. 

It ought not to be objected to such quotations, 
that they are more immediately applied by the 
Apostle to Moses. For we shall find, as we proceed, 
that they are equally applicable to all the Old Tes¬ 
tament dispensation—there being much more of the 
Mosaic system, not of Moses, but of the Fathers , 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 85 

than is generally attended to. In Moses it was 
more fully developed—it received a more distinct 
form as a law—but the elements or ‘ rudiments of 
the world ,’ (that is, external forms) were, in con¬ 
formity with the Divine economy regarding man, 
of necessity , the elements of teaching until the seed 
came to whom the promises were made. 

This is a point of the highest importance, for, 
without due attention to it, all the primeval eco¬ 
nomy will appear mysterious and unmeaning. Man 
by his unbelief and disobedience had brought dark¬ 
ness over all his prospects. God promised to bring 
light out of that darkness, to turn the evil into good, 
to cause mercy to rejoice over judgment, and to 
bring down the craft of the enemy upon his own 
head; making Satan’s attempt to frustrate the de¬ 
signs of God the mean of accomplishing those 
glorious and god-like purposes. The promise of 
this was to be the ground of the faith and hope of 
Adam and his sons for many generations. But he 
and they, during the period of expectancy, were, 
one after another, to return to dust without seeing 
the promise fulfilled. During all that time they 
would have the same wiles of the Devil to contend 
against, which had succeeded in ejecting them from 
Paradise. How was the promise to be made a con¬ 
stant antidote to these wiles—a never-failing ground 
or confidence of things hoped for, the evidence of 
things not seen ? By being progressively strength¬ 
ened and confirmed. But how could a thing only 
in expectation be strengthened in the mind ? Only 
by new evidence regarding it being afforded. And 


86 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 


in what way could evidence respecting a future event 
be given ? In no way but by some concatenation 
of figures, circumstances, or events, so surprisingly 
fitting into each other, as to carry conviction to the 
mind that they all proceeded from the same source, 
and all indicated the power, as well as the intention, 
of the Promiser to fulfil what he had said. 

It must occur to every reader, that no figure, 
circumstance, or event, could be made instructive or 
useful, towards such a purpose, without previous 
instruction; without some data to proceed upon, 
some principle to judge by, some foundation laid in 
the mind, to which the links of evidence could be 
attached. We have already seen that where there 
was the exercise of faith , there would always be 
a danger of doubt creeping in and undermining it ; 
and if Satan succeeded in instilling unbelief in 
Paradise, he was likely to have a much easier task 
in a sinful world. Had the promise concerning the 
seed of the woman, been unconnected in the mind 
with circumstances calculated to enforce and ex¬ 
plain it, it is very difficult to imagine how it could 
so enlighten the understanding (which ‘ the secret 
of the Lord’ always does) as to defend the con¬ 
science against despair and unbelief. In itself it 
was both vague and oracular; but it was surrounded 
by circumstances which fitted it for an antidote to 
the curse, much better than an explicit promise , un¬ 
attended by such circumstances, could have done. 
An explicit promise might have been undermined, 
or rendered inelfectual, as a ground of hope, in the 
same way in which an explicit threatening had 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 


87 


already been disregarded; but being made figurative, 
it took great force and meaning from the previous 
instruction Adam had received ; and instead of get¬ 
ting weaker as it grew older, it gained fresh accessions 
of strength, as time rolled on, and figure upon figure, 
as well as precept upon precept, were added for its 
confirmation. 

We do not, at present, propose to enquire what 
the ideas were which Adam, from his previous 
education, would connect with the words of the 
promise. These may be better understood when 
we come to the investigation of the situation of his 
family, after their ejectment from Eden. At present, 
we wish only to direct attention to the number of 
figures which are contained in the short sentence, 
emphatically called, 4 the Promise.’ The serpent 
and the seed of the serpent, the woman and the 
seed of the woman, were all figurative; the enmity 
between a brute and a human creature, or between 
the devil personally and the woman personally, is 
an interpretation too absurd to be seriously enter¬ 
tained. 4 Bruising’ is figuratively used, and 4 head’ 
and 4 heel ’ are metaphorical. Here was a promise 
figuratively given, prepared for by figurative teach¬ 
ing, and followed up by figurative confirmations. 
Suppose that, instead of this mode of giving and 
strengthening it, the promise had been plainly 
spoken, it must be evident that nothing could 
afterwards have been done to vindicate it, or to 
prevent it from being corrupted, but to repeat it 
or fulfil it. Repetition would not, in such a case, 
have been confirmation ; for the new promise would 


88 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 


have been liable to as many objections as the old; 
and the fulfilment of it, while the first race of patri¬ 
archs were still alive, would have deprived it, as an 
article of faith, of all that wonderful body of evidence 
regarding it, the collection of which into the Scrip¬ 
tures so clearly proved it to have been no cunningly 
devised fable. 

The figures by which it was subsequently strength¬ 
ened were of various kinds. Persons appeared in 
typical characters. Events of a miraculous and 
typical nature were brought to pass. Ordinances, 
plainly of a typical nature, such as sacrifice, were 
instituted. These three modes of illustration have 
received so much attention, and have been so gene¬ 
rally appreciated, that it is not necessary to dwell 
upon them here. The mode of illustration which 
has not received the same degree of attention, but 
which served the purpose of explanation and eluci¬ 
dation, more perhaps than any of the others, was 
that of figurative language accompanied by certain 
forms or combination of forms, in other words 
HIEROGLYPHICS. 

The excellence of this mode of instruction and 
illustration lay in the figurative structure of the lan¬ 
guage which accompanied it. We have already 
seen that the primitive language was pre-eminently 
so, and that its original roots, as well as many of its 
most striking illustrations, were drawn from remark¬ 
able appearances and operations in nature. But 
there were some of these appearances and operations 
which could not be pourtrayed. The light, for 
instance, that first and finest figure in the crea- 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 


89 


tion, could not have been represented . There was, 
therefore, a singular and beautiful provision for this 
deficiency (if the term can be used in reference to a 
metaphor so pure and perfect), which lay in the ap¬ 
plication of names to natural objects that could be 
pourtrayed, by which they were rendered fit emblems, 
both of the natural appearances and of the spiritual 
works which they illustrated. Hence the picture of 
an animal or vegetable, or any other object, or com¬ 
bination of objects, stood for a representation, not of 
the object itself, but of the metaphor, idea, opinion, 
or doctrine, couched under the name or combination 
of names ; and the introduction of the same figures 
or emblems in discourse, gave astonishing force to the 
language. To this cause the sacred language owes 
much of its elegance ; and it is astonishing how much 
modern language is indebted to the wrecks of this 
beautiful peculiarity in early language which have 
floated down to it. 

It is very generally supposed, but the supposition 
is erroneous, that metaphor in the Eastern lan¬ 
guages, where it still abounds, is owing to the glow¬ 
ing imaginations and hyperbolical and high-flowm 
ideas incidental to a warm climate and luxurious 
customs. To this source many have not scrupled 
to refer the noblest effusions of the sacred poets. 
No idea can be more wide of the truth—nor any 
one more calculated to darken and degrade the 
Scriptures. Metaphorical construction of language 
is a sign of antiquity , not of clime (witness the 
Celtic and other tongues); and the cause of so much 
metaphor being still found in Eastern tongues, is 


00 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 


because, in their construction, as well as in iriany 
of their words, they retain a similarity to the parent 
stock from which all language sprung ; and have 
not become such a combination of mere arbitrary 
sounds, as those tongues which have descended to 
Europe through the puddle of Greek and Roman 
literature. Hence the exceeding beauty of the 
images in the Eastern tongues, borrowed from 
flowers, from birds, and other natural objects. The 
name of the object presented, portrayed, or referred 
to, is so full of meaning, that whether it be actually 
brought into view, depicted, or alluded to, it is in¬ 
troduced with an effect which an European can 
have, with his more matter-of-fact language, but a 
faint idea of. If an Eastern lover tells his passion, 
what epistle so full of meaning, or so well under¬ 
stood by his mistress, as a bouquet ? and how care¬ 
fully are the flowers arranged so that they may be 
read aright! Here we have the best illustration of 
hieroglyphics ; and not a mere illustration, but a 
trace of the primitive connexion between language 
and nature, still lingering amid the wrecks of that 
speech in which God himself held converse with 
man. 

It is pleasing to trace the same thing even in our 
own strangely compounded and ever varying lan¬ 
guage. What words could England’s own Poet have 
put into the lips of Ophelia, so touching as ‘ There’s 
rosemary, that’s for remembrance; and there is 
pansies, that’s for thoughts : there’s fennel for you, 
and columbines; there’s rue for you, and here’s some 
for me; there’s a daisy; I would give you some 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 


91 


violets, but they withered all when my father died! * 
Now, expressive and touching as all the hiero¬ 
glyphics are here, one of them (rue) has particular 
force, from the name and the metaphorical use of it 
agreeing ; and this , as already noticed, is one of the 
causes why the earliest application of natural ob¬ 
jects for illustrative purposes was so forcible and 
expressive. 

But it is not alone in such trivial matters that we 
see, in our own language, the beauty and the utility 
of hieroglyphics. Most of the figures by which 
the great truths of Revelation are familiarised to us, 
come from this source. We have already frequently 
referred to that universal hieroglyphic, the light. 
What ideas do we entertain of truth so forcible as 
those which that emblem conveys to us ? What 
words can speak so beautifully and so intelligibly as 
that figure ? What account can we give of purifi¬ 
cation, that the emblem of icater does not far excel ? 
How can we so fearfully portray trial, as by fire ,— 
so beautifully illustrate innocence, as by a lamb ,— 
affection, as by a dove ? Or, what laboured preach¬ 
ing could so speak to the heart of the weary, as 
this figure, 4 1 am the Bread of Life ?’ Now if these 
figures are so expressive to us, even in a language 
in which 4 any other names ’ or sounds would just 
have done as well, what power and expression must 
such figures and hieroglyphics (for the lamb, the 
dove, and the bread are all hieroglyphics), what 
force must they have had, when language itself lent 
its figurative aid to the allegory ? For instance, we 
own the aptness of the emblem of the lamb, because 


92 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 


of the sportive innocence which appears about it ; 
but what a force was given to the emblem, when it 
was brought to the altar by a worshipper, who was 
taught to give it the name of Seh , this is He, or this 
is the substitute? We recognize the dove as a 
proper emblem of the Spirit, because the fruit of 
the Spirit is love; but how much w r as the aptness 
of the figure enhanced, when the bird was known by 
the name (which Adam, with the approbation of God, 
bestowed upon it) Jonah , rest and peace ? 

Before, then, proceeding to consider, in the next 
chapter, the immediate use, after the fall, of hiero¬ 
glyphic forms, to preach the truths of God, let us 
reflect carefully on the evidence we have obtained, 
that the language in which the first revelations from 
heaven to man were made, was essentially allegorical; 
that it was not only drawn from the great operations 
of nature, in its primary elements, and so fitted to 
convey by analogy ideas of the great spiritual works 
of God, which could not otherwise have been made 
intelligible to flesh and blood ; but that, in its 
application to the objects with which nature was 
filled, there seems to have been a constant eye to 
the illustration of the same subjects; and names 
given to the objects, expressive not only of their 
natural qualities and uses, but of their use and 
meaning as illustrators of Divine things. In short, 
creation seems to have been looked upon as one 
great temple, filled with objects and guided by laws 
entirely of an illustrative nature ; indicative of some 
settled purpose, on the part of their Creator, to 
employ these objects and ordinances to teach, 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 


03 


preach, and illustrate heavenly truth ; and they 
appear to have been looked at, or to have been 
considered worthy attention, in no respect but as 
contributing to this grand purpose. Thus, the ob~ 
jects themselves, or representations of them, were 
the best texts that could be employed to preach the 
doctrines of the kingdom of heaven. In this manner, 
as we shall proceed to consider in the next chapter, 
these representations, figures, or texts were used in 
the earliest worship of the world. Thus, they 
found a place in the tabernacle and in the temple. 
Thus, prophecy became filled with images borrowed 
from them. Thus, without a parable or allegory, 
drawn from these very works, our Lord himself 
never spake of the kingdom of heaven; and thus, 
little as it may now be attended to, all those beautiful 
similes, figures, and allegories, by which truth is 
conveyed to us, in the pages of the Divine Word, 
had their origin in the inexhaustible store of hiero¬ 
glyphics , which Divine Wisdom connected, from the 
first, with that language in which testimony was to 
be borne to the unsearchable riches of Christ. 


94 . 


CHAPTER VI. 

THE CHERUBIM. 

We have endeavoured, in the preceding chapters, 
from the narrative given by Moses of creation-week, 
from the brief but interesting notices which are 
recorded concerning man in Eden, and from various 
circumstances in the structure of ancient as well as 
modern languages, to gain some insight into the 
cause of the prevalence of metaphor and of allegory, 
in all the early revelations made to man. However 
imperfectly we may have succeeded in what all our 
readers will grant is not an easy task,—combating 
early impressions, and reasoning against the current 
of opinion, in matters whereof many notions have 
been formed, because the facts regarding them have 
been but little attended to ; we feel perfectly satis¬ 
fied that what our arguments may fail at first to 
effect, a second consideration of them will accom¬ 
plish with many readers. Whoever so far adopts 
the principles contended for, as to try and to com¬ 
pare patiently, from time to time, as questions arise 
to his mind, the answers they afford with the solu- 


THE CHERUBIM. 


95 


tions given, by any other process of reasoning, to 
the mysteries or figures with which the Divine 
Economy abounds, will obtain, as he proceeds, con¬ 
firmation far stronger than any language we can 
use. As we advanced in our enquiry, we found a 
solution to the abundance of these figures in their 
admirable adaptation, as a mode of instruction, to 
the faculties of man ; in their fitness for a testimony 
concerning things which were of a future or pro¬ 
spective nature; and we were prepared to find 
natural objects used allegorically, to illustrate Divine 
truths, from the connexion subsisting between these 
objects and the language given to man. Accordingly, 
the first man is introduced to our notice as placed 
amongst emblems ; and as giving such emblematical 
names to natural objects, as clearly indicated a just 
perception of the good and the evil,—of the truth and 
the lie. We have seen him endued with the spirit 
of prophecy ; and we beheld him, after his trans¬ 
gression, comforted and supported by a promise, 
couched in the language of allegory and of figure. 
We have now to follow him, on his ejectment from 
Paradise, to a scene which CONFIRMS, in a more 
striking manner than any reasoning we can employ, 
the view we have taken of the instruction he had 
previously received. At the same place, also, we 
obtain the most satisfactory evidence, that it was by 
means of HIEROGLYPHICS that the truths op 
God were from the first preached to mankind. 

It is narrated in Genesis iii. 24, that when God 
4 drave out the man, he placed cherubim at the 
east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword 


96 


THE CHERUBIM. 


turning every way to keep the way of the tree 
of life.’ 

The vulgar idea connected with this passage being, 
that God placed angels , bearing bright or burning 
weapons, to guard the tree,—we shall be pardoned 
offering one or two remarks on some inadvertencies 
in the translation, which have partly contributed to 
this absurd notion. We shall be borne out in the 
criticisms by every Hebrew lexicon. 

The word translated 4 placed ,' is literally to 
4 dwell as in a tabernacle—to inhabit/ The word 
4 cherubim’ has, in the original, the definite article 
4 the’ before it. 4 Sword ’ is introduced, while no 
such weapon as a sword had yet been known: the 
phrase is 4 the fire of wrath/ A sword being the 
instrument of wrath, had afterwards the name of 
wrath applied to it; but in this place the primary 
idea of the word should be used, because the object 
to which it was secondarily applied was then un¬ 
known. Besides, here, if the word meant sword, 
the phrase would literally be 4 the fire of sword/ 
which is absurd. 4 Turning every way 7 is the same 
word which the translators render in Ezekiel, 
chapter i., 4 infolding itself / and 4 keep’ although 
properly translated, does not, in the original, mean 
here to guard , but to keep> in the sense of observe; 
in the same sense in which it is used in the phfase 
4 to keep the commandments of the Lord/ 

Had the translators of the English Bible, then, 
not been misled by some idea about a guard around 
the tree , they would have rendered the verse thus : 
4 So he drave out the man. And he inhabited (or 


THE CHERUBIM. 


97 


dwelt between) the cherubim at the east of the 
garden of Eden, and the fire of wrath (or fierce fire) 
infolding itself to preserve inviolate the way OF the 
tree of life/ 

Here is a memorial set up at Eden; something 
to keep or preserve inviolate the way of the Lord ; 
for 4 the way of the Tree of Life ’ has ever been 
the way of the Lord :— that memorial is called the 
cherubim. 

There cannot be found a more glaring instance of 
the confusion, perplexity, and obscurity, which arise 
from connecting unauthorised ideas with a word, 
than in the case of the word Cherubim. From the 
definite article having been frequently dropped in 
our translation; from its plural termination ( im) 
seeming to the ear to give it some connexion with 
seraplnm; and from a too great readiness to adopt 
vague notions respecting what are called mysteries , 
almost every reader of the Bible thinks that the 
cherubim were what we call cherubs or angels. 
For such a notion there is not the smallest foundation 
in the Scriptures. 

The first reference to the cherubim is in the 
passage already referred to in Genesis. The second 
is, where Moses is instructed to make it or them of 
the gold of the mercy-seat, and to portray them on 
the veil; and the form of them seems to have been 
understood, for he is merely instructed to frame 
them, but without any description of the form ; the 
cherubim being something definite and previously 
well known. Paul calls them the cherubim of 
glory overshadowing the mercy-seat. The third 

H 


98 


THE CHERUBIM. 


reference to them by name is, where Soiomon is 
instructed to frame others around the holiest of all; 
besides those upon the mercy-seat, which were then 
carried into the temple. The fourth is in the 80th 
Psalm, where God is said to 4 dwell between them.’ 
The fifth reference, and it is accompanied by a 
most copious description of them, is in the visions 
of Ezekiel. And the sixth, although in it the name 
is not mentioned, yet the description corresponds so 
precisely with Ezekiel’s vision, that no doubt is 
left of the identity,—is in the vision which John 
saw of 4 the four living creatures around the 
throne and in the midst of the throne.’ 

Let it be observed then,—1st, That in the vision 
which Ezekiel saw of the spiritual temple, God 
appeared sitting above or between four living 
creatures , and that this prophet, who was also a 
priest , and had therefore access to the holy of holies, 
says, 4 1 knew that they were THE CHERUBIM.’ 
2nd, That John, in his vision of the sanctuary in 
heaven, sees 4 in the midst of the throne (the mercy- 
seat) and round about the throne (the very situation 
of the golden cherubim on the ark), four living 
creatures f and that these four were the same that 
Ezekiel saw, which he says were 4 the cherubim.’ 
3rd, That God is described as 4 sitting between the 
cherubim,’ in the worldly sanctuary, which throne 
or seat was 4 above or upon the ark.’ And 4th, 
That God inhabited, or dwelt between, the cherubim 
at the east of the garden of Eden. The coinci¬ 
dence between, and the concurrent testimony of, 
all these passages prove, that in every recognized 


THE CHERUBIM. 


99 


4 place which God did choose to place his name, or 
his worship there,’ there did he always appear, 
establishing the same memorial, and counte¬ 
nancing it with his presence or voice. In Eden, he 
placed and inhabited the cherubim; in the taber¬ 
nacle and in the temple, he dwelt between the 
cherubim; in the spiritual visions of the temple, he 
was seen between the cherubim; and in heaven 
itself, he is represented as sitting between the same 
forms. Wherever, therefore, we meet with this 
definite word, the cherubim, we must connect the 
same ideas, the same forms with it; and wherever 
we have descriptions of these forms, they are just so 
many illustrations to us, so many explanations, of 
the throne, wherever it was set; whether in Eden, 
in the tabernacle, in the temple, or in heaven itself. 
That throne was like him who sat on it, the same 
yesterday, to-day, and for ever. 

The most particular description of this ‘ dwelling 
place of the Most High/ is given by Ezekiel; and 
in addition to what has already been noticed, the 
introduction to his vision seems most remarkably to 
identify wdiat he saw, with what was seen at Eden. 
There was, first, a brightness; then 4 a fire in¬ 
folding itself/ corresponding precisely with the 
fire infolding itself, or turning every way, at Eden. 
In the midst of that fire the cherubim appeared. 
These cherubim in the fire were four living creatures; 
and we entreat the reader to reflect one moment on 
the circumstance of Adam having given names to 
the animal creation, and then to notice that the 
memorial set up before him to 4 keep the way of 


100 


THE CHERUBIM. 


the tree of life,’ was composed of a combination of 
some of those animal forms to which he had previously 
given names full of symbolical meaning . 

We feel satisfied that there is not one, who 
allows this most w r onderful circumstance, attending 
the early worship of the w r orld, to have its due 
weight, but will be constrained to admit that there 
are many things in these ‘ancient matters,’ de¬ 
serving much more of our attention, on whom the 
ends of the world have come, than has generally 
been given to them. Even could we obtain no key 
to such marvels, the very circumstance of finding 
the emblems at Eden and those in the temple to have 
been the same, might well make us pause, when dis¬ 
posed to talk lightly of the sacred institutions of an 
early world. 

An investigation into such references to these sym - 
bols, as serve to determine the ideas attached to them 
by the worshippers of old, can be entered upon more 
appropriately afterwards. At present we are de¬ 
sirous rather to direct the reader’s attention to the 
identity of the Edenic emblems with those subse¬ 
quently established in the church; to the fitness of 
such hieroglyphics to convey the truths of God to 
the expectant believer; and to the corroboration 
which the early use of such symbols affords, of what 
has been adduced in the previous chapters. 

If any further proof of the identity of the symbols, 
beyond those already adduced, were required, it is 
found in Ezekiel xxviii. 13, 14. ‘ Thou hast been 

in Eden , the garden of God ; thou art the anointed 
cherub that covereth; thou hast walked up and 


THE CHERUBIM. 


101 


down in the midst of the stones of fire.’ The fitness 
of the emblem must have been most wonderful, when 
to that same anointed cherub it is said, ‘ Thou sealest 
up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.’ 
And what more conclusive proof that the language 
of Eden was perfect , than that it furnished a key to 
an emblem which was the sum of wisdom and of 
beauty ? 

To the possessor of an arbitrary language, it ap¬ 
pears almost incomprehensible how a hieroglyph, 
composed of a lion, an eagle, an ox, and a man, 
should have been called the perfection of wisdom and 
of beauty; yet, there cannot be a doubt, from 
various references, to be afterwards noticed, as well 
as from the passage in which these epithets occur, 
and from that hieroglyph being made the attendant 
of the Almighty in his revelations to man, that the 
perfection of wisdom and knowledge was conveyed, 
under that combination of forms, to the early wor¬ 
shippers. How figurative and expressive then must 
that language have been, which supplied names for 
these animal forms so highly metaphorical, as that a 
combination of them should be 4 full of wisdom.’ 

Had the cherubic forms been representations of, 
or actual angels, they could not have been called 
the sum and perfection of wisdom ; for ‘ the heavens 
are not clean in his sight, and his angels he chargetli 
with folly neither would they have included such 
figures as the lion and the ox, for no forms were 
less calculated to convey ideas of celestial beings. 
They could not have been representations of the 
Deity, for they are described in Revelations iv. 5, as 


102 


THE CHERUBIM. 


4 falling down and worshipping Him that sat on the 
throne/ They could not have represented the ele¬ 
ments of the material world, for they form the throne 
of Him 4 whom the heaven, even the heaven of heavens 
cannot containhow much less the material ele¬ 
ments of the lower world, or of the first heaven 
around it. 

The investigations in which we have been en¬ 
gaged, lead us to view this cherubic combination of 
animal forms, as hieroglyphical; as conveying pro¬ 
phetic truths, by a combination of those objects to 
which Adam had given metaphorical names. This 
view we shall afterwards have confirmed ; and in 
that confirmation we shall obtain the most satisfac¬ 
tory corroboration of what has been stated regarding 
Adam’s preparatory instruction. We shall find the 
cherubim thus translated by an inspired writer, 
‘ The great mystery , or figure of godliness —God 
(to be) manifested in the flesh; justified or declared 
the just one by the Spirit; seen of angels ; preaehed 
unto the gentiles ; believed on in the world ; received 
up into glory/ Reader ! this truth, in these very 
words , kept the way of the Tree of Life ! 

In the body or society professing this truth, God 
has always dwelt; hence he dwelt between the che¬ 
rubim, which preached it at Eden, in the tabernacle, 
in the temple, and in heaven. 

It is not necessary for us at present, however, to 
insist on this being the translation of the cherubic 
figures. It is sufficient, in the present stage of our 
enquiry, that their decidedly hieroglypliical or figura¬ 
tive nature be attended to, and the aptness of the 


THE CHERUBIM. 


103 


early language for translating such figures borne in 
mind. Whatever was the nature of the truth preach¬ 
ed by these forms, it was intended to preserve or keep 
in memory the way of the tree of life ; and it ap¬ 
peared in the midst of fire —that ordeal through 
which truth is to be brought, ‘ tried like silver puri¬ 
fied seven times/ God promised to Adam that he 
was to put enmity between the seed of the woman 
and the seed of the serpent; to divide between the 
light and between the darkness; and, along with 
that promise, a symbol is established at Eden, by 
which truth is represented as abiding the ordeal of 
fire. How true it is that God never left himself 
without witness:—but to estimate the extent and 
force of that witness or testimony, at the east of 
Eden, requires another chapter. 


104 




CHAPTER VII. 

THE FIRMAMENT. 

It is necessary, on opening this chapter, to recur to 
one of the axioms with which we set out, and to 
follow up, more closely than has yet been done, one 
of the conclusions to which it leads. 

It was assumed, as almost, if not altogether, a 
self-evident truth, that the choice of form and ar¬ 
rangement in the visible creation, being wholly of 
Divine Will, and not resulting from any inherent 
property in matter, there must have been some 
reason, intention, and design for the creation appear¬ 
ing as we now see it. 

Applying this axiom to the work of the fourth 
day, when God set the sun, moon, and stars, for 
SIGNS as well as for seasons, for days, and for 
years; we conclude that there must have been some 
design in these heavenly bodies being so placed as we 
behold them. Those who contradict Moses and say 
they were not so placed on the fourth day, may be 
in the right, if creation be accidental , and revelation 
false. These are not the grounds on which we have 
rested our enquiry; if they had, we should not have 


THE FIRMAMENT. 


105 


taken for granted even that there was a firmament, 
or sun and moon in it! 

Every right-thinking reader will readily admit, 
that these heavenly bodies were so placed, as not 
only to carry on uninterruptedly the great opera¬ 
tions of nature, but also to show forth the glory of 
their Creator. And, as it was equally within the 
power of God to carry on the same operations by 
any other arrangement, the arrangement chosen 
must have been that which Divine Wisdom saw 
best calculated for showing forth the Divine glory. 

But wherein does the glory of God consist ? If 
it be merely in splendour, in extent, in magnitude, 
or in beauty of arrangement—all these might have 
been equally shown by a different appearance from 
that which they now present. Glorious as they 
are, in all these respects, they might have been 
made still more amazing and wonderful, if admira¬ 
tion, wonder and astonishment had been all the 
emotions, in addition to thankfulness for their uti¬ 
lity. which they were intended to produce in the 
minds of men. We shall never, in any degree, 
enter into the spirit of the Scripture allusions to the 
glory of God, if we suppose it to consist in visible 
splendour, or in states of existence calculated merely 
to excite our astonishment and admiration. 

The glory of God consists in doing that which 
no intelligence, however high, save his own, could 
imagine—no power, save his own, however great, 
execute. As formerly noticed, we are so ignorant 
of the nature of the world of spirits, so unacquainted 
with the extent of their power and intelligence, that 


106 


THE FIRMAMENT. 


if we see nothing in the works of creation, save 
intelligence and power, we feel no conviction re¬ 
garding their origin, save that they have proceeded 
from creatures greater in power and might than 
ourselves. Ere we behold, in any part of creation, 
the glory of the God of the Scriptures—ere, indeed, 
we entertain the conviction that the works proceed 
from his hand—we must discern about them some 
characteristics peculiar to all his works—something 
which stamps undeniably the mind from whence 
they have emanated. 

The sweet Psalmist of Israel beheld the glory of 
his God in the heavens ; because he evidently read 
ill these heavens, something concerning that great 
w r ork of redemption, which distinguished Jehovah 
from all other Gods. So often as he looked to the 
firmament, this great work was brought to his me¬ 
mory. ‘ When I behold,’ he says, ‘ thy heavens 
on high; the firmament, the work of thy fingers; 
the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, 
or set in order; what is man, that thus thou re- 
memberest him ; the son of man, that thus thou 
visitest him V It seems to have been the discovery 
of this which made him preface his subject with 
these remarkable words : ‘ How excellent, Jehovah, 
our Lord, is thy name in all the earth, who hast 
set thy glory over, or around, the heavens V 

Lest those who have been accustomed to think of 
no glory about the firmament but that which apper¬ 
tains to its splendour, should judge that we have at 
all strained the language of the Psalmist, in the 8th 
Psalm, to a contemplation of the heavens beyond 


THE FIRMAMENT. 


107 


the meaning usually given to the passage, that of 
contrasting the brilliancy and immensity of the 
heavenly bodies with the lowly appearance of man, 
4 who is a worm,’—we proceed to another passage, 
from the same inspired pen, which fortunately has 
been so commented on by another inspired writer, 
as to set the question at rest! The passage itself, 
taken in connexion with the commentary, is, per¬ 
haps, one of the most remarkable which the Bible 
contains, in reference to the publicity which God 
gave to his purposes of mercy from the very be¬ 
ginning. 

The Nineteenth Psalm is the portion of Scrip¬ 
ture now referred to, and it opens with these words, 
4 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the 
firmament sheweth his handywork. ’ Had tlie 
Psalmist paused here, these words might have been 
construed in a sense as vague as is generally 
ascribed to the 8th psalm : but he thus proceeds, 

4 day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night 
sheweth knowledge.* Had he dropped the subject 
even here, there might have been some pretext for 
affirming, that he had no more specific meaning, than 
that the speech of day and night was, 4 the hand that 
made us is powerful,’ or perhaps ‘divine.’ But, as 
if to frustrate all attempts to give his assertions any 
such vague meaning, he adds, 4 there is no speech nor 
language where their voice is not heard. Their 
line is gone out through all the earth, and their 
words to the end of the world.’ 

The use made, and the explanation given, of this 
noble passage by the Apostle Paul, afford infallible 


108 


THE FIRMAMENT. 


elucidations of the nature of the glory which the 
firmament declares. He is writing in Romans x. 
of the evidence there was that the Gospel had been 
preached of old to the Gentiles as well as to the 
Jews. He begins by laying down, as a great funda¬ 
mental principle, that 4 whosoever shall call on the 
name of the Lord shall be saved.’ And, in reference 
to the Gentiles, he says, 4 How then shall they call 
on him in whom they have not believed ? And how 
shall they believe in him of whom they have not 
heard ?’ If he had not been able to prove that they 
had heard , his argument would have fallen to the 
ground, for their condemnation lay there. 4 But, I 
say, HAVE THEY NOT HEARD? YES, VERILY!’ 
A nd where lay his proof that the Gentiles had heard 
the Gospel? In this, that THE FIRMAMENT, 
which declared the glory of God, spoke distinctly 
and intelligibly to every nation under heaven. * Yes, 
verily,’ he says, they have heard, for 4 THEIR 
SOUND’ (or report of the firmament) 4 went into 
ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE END 
OF THE WORLD !’ 

Can human ingenuity pervert these plain words ? 
Is it possible for us to deal as plainly and honestly 
with the words of inspiration as we would do with 
human writings, and yet resist the inevitable conclu¬ 
sion to which this leads us—that the glory of God, 
which the Firmament declared to the nations, was 
the Gospel ; and, that when the report of the 
heavens went out through all the earth, it 4 preached 
the Gospel to every creature which is under 
HEAVEN V 


THE FIRMAMENT. 


109 


So singularly striking and remarkable is this pas¬ 
sage in the Psalm, and the apostolic commentary, 
that every commentator has been arrested by it. As 
there are not a few of our readers who may think us 
inclined to find more of the work of Redemption in 
the works of creation than was intended, it may he 
useful to insert here some of the remarks which the 
psalm has elicited from pens of great authority in 
such matters. 

Dr. Waterland, in quoting the words, 4 their line is 
gone out, &c.,' on the authority of an old translation 
of the Bible, reads, 4 their sound is gone out into all 
the earth, and their report to the end of the world 
and the commentator adds, 4 the meaning is, they 
proclaim the Divine glory, in plain and intelligible 
characters, to the remotest parts of the earth, as the 
Gospel shall be proclaimed hereafter by the preaching 
of the apostles.’—Rom. x. 18. 

Bishop Horne says, 4 From a citation which St. 
Paul hath made of the fourth verse, it appears, that, 
in the exposition of this psalm, we are to raise our 
thoughts from things natural to things spiritual: we 
are to contemplate the publication of the Gospel, the 
manifestation of the Light of Life, the Sun of Right¬ 
eousness, and the efficacy of evangelical doctrine. 
In this view the ancients have considered the psalm , 
and the church therefore hath appointed it to be 
read on Christmas-day.’ The same writer adds, 4 the 
heavens are not endowed like man with the faculty 
of speech, but they address themselves to the mind 
of the intelligent beholder in another, and that, when 


110 


THE FIRMAMENT. 


understood, a no less forcible way; the way of 
picture or representation! 

It is almost to be wondered at, that such an 
admission should have been made, by so acute and 
sound a writer as Bishop Horne, without his mind 
being more impressed with the grand conclusion to 
which it led, regarding one of the ways in which 
God never left himself without witness respecting 
his purposes of mercy ! The heavens are declared 
to speak. Paul explicitly declares, and it is admitted 
by his commentators to be declared by him, that the 
subject of which the heavens speak is the work of 
Redemption, or the Gospel. Surely, then, if the 
language they spoke was so universal, as that there 
was no speech or language where it was not heard, 
we may safely say, there never was a time , either 
before the fall or after it, when the work of Redemp¬ 
tion was not declared; when ‘ his faithfulness’ did 
not appear 6 established in the very heavens V But 
how was the glory of God, as manifested in the work 
of redemption, declared or spoken of by the celestial 
bodies? In answering this question, we shall find 
the assertion of Bishop Horne, that it was by ‘ pic¬ 
ture or representation,’ confirmed, to an extent which 
that able writer did not probably contemplate when 
he penned those words. 

We have already, more than once, briefly alluded 
to the beautiful pictures or figures given of 4 the light 
of life and the efficacy of evangelical doctrine,’ in 
the first bursting forth of light out of darkness; in 
the collection of light into one focus, the sun, as an 
emblem of the Sun of Righteousness ; and in the 


THE FIRMAMENT. 


Ill 


creation of the lesser light, which borrowed all its 
brilliancy from the sun, as an emblem of the worldly 
church. Thus the sun is described in many places, 
not only as being emblematical of Him who is the 
Fountain of Spiritual light, but the effect of its rays 
on the visible creation is brought into close com¬ 
parison with the power of the Law of the Lord on 
the conscience. 4 There is nothing hid from the heat 
thereof: the law of the Lord is perfect, converting 
the soul.’ This is not an unmeaning transition , as is 
generally thought, from one subject to another, but 
a beautiful substitution of the antitype for the type. 
Hence we read in Moses’ prophetic language, not 
only of 4 the precious fruits of the sun,’ but also of 
4 the precious things put forth by the moon.' 

But there is an expression used in the psalm we 
have been referring to, in regard to 4 the tabernacle 
for the sun,’ which is 4 set’ in heaven, that opens 
up a very curious and interesting part of the sub¬ 
ject. It is said in the 19th psalm, from which 
these quotations are made, that 4 in them he hath 
set a tabernacle for the sun/ Any one wdio can 
consult the original here, will at once perceive that 
the w r ord 4 them,' is in construction with the word 
4 their in the preceding sentences. The expression 
with which it stands most immediately in con¬ 
struction, is that frequently quoted above, viz. 4 their 
words and it is in them , that is, in the words of 
the firmament, a tabernacle is said to be set for the 
sun. The compound noun translated 4 their w T ords, 7 
means literally 4 their distinct, separate sentences or 
sayings.’ 


1 ] 2 


THE FIRMAMENT. 


Now, it is a fact, the truth of which will be 
admitted by every one who has at all looked into 
ancient mythology, that, from the very earliest ages, 
the stars have been divided into separate constel¬ 
lations or hieroglyphical figures ; and it is equally 
undeniable, that, so far back as history or anti¬ 
quarian research has been able to penetrate, the 
signs, figures, or constellations, forming the path, or 
tabernacle, of the sun, have always been twelve; 
and have very nearly corresponded with those still 
recognized as forming the signs of the zodiac. This 
would be a matter of very little importance indeed, 
if there were not some references to this very 
division, in the oldest of the sacred books them¬ 
selves. The reader will remember a very singular 
allusion to them, in the history of Joseph, when the 
eleven constellations are seen making obeisance to 
the twelfth. The bringing forth of Mazzaroth in 
their seasons, mentioned in the book of Job (written 
certainly prior to the call of Abraham), is, by the 
best translators and commentators, considered as 
referring to the twelve signs of the zodiac ; and ‘ the 
sweet influences of the seven stars,’ or planets, and 
various other allusions to the heavenly bodies, in that 
book, bespeak a very early origin for much of that 
classification of the stars, which is yet recognized 
throughout the world. 

It is not our purpose, at this stage of our enquiry, 
to bring forward many singular circumstances con¬ 
nected with this subject, which would divest it of 
all appearance of substituting fancy for fact, in an 
investigation of this nature. The few references we 


THE FIRMAMENT. 


113 


have already made, are sufficient for our present 
purpose; which is, to ascertain whether there are 
grounds for believing, that, when God set the ordi¬ 
nances of heaven for SIGNS, these signs were 
significant of the great truths, for the illustration of 
which the earth was created, and 4 the stars also.* 
We have ascertained that, by the worshippers under 
the Old Testament, they were looked to as signi¬ 
ficant of these, and read as testifying of them. 
We have also established that it was by their sen¬ 
tences or sayings, going abroad to all the world, 
that the Gospel was originally preached to every 
creature which is under heaven. Had there, there¬ 
fore, even been no allusion to them in the sacred 
books, prior to the time of David, there would have 
been authority, from that allusion, and from Paul’s 
words, to believe, that from the beginning they were 
so read. But we have also found other references 
to the divisions, or hieroglyphics, or separate sen¬ 
tences of the stars, so early as to remove every 
doubt of their primeval origin; and such appeals to 
them by God himself out of the whirlwind, to Job, 
as demonstrate, that the lessons to be drawn from 
them were not of man’s device, but were some of 
the divers ways in which God spake of old to the 
fathers. We shall afterwards show such applica¬ 
tions and uses of these signs of heaven, under the 
direction and approbation of God himself, as are 
calculated to put to silence the sneers of the most 
sceptical. 

Among the rudiments or elements, then, of early 
instruction—of the revelations from heaven to man, 

i 


114 


THE FIRMAMENT. 


we have found, at present, strong presumptive 
evidence that 4 the speech of the firmament’ formed 
a part. In whatever manner we afterwards ascer¬ 
tain that speech was expressed, in the same manner 
it must have been expressed from the beginning; for 
the Book from which the lessons were read, remained 
unchanged. As we shall afterwards find, that the 
same hieroglyphical characters were portrayed on 
the firmament which were beheld in the cherubim ,— 
the propriety of including the signs of heaven 
amongst the first principles of early knowledge 
must be abundantly evident. We can imagine 
nothing more calculated to confirm the faith and the 

(j 

hope of the early worshippers, than when they 
found the figures established by God himself on the 
earth, were in conformity with the characters im¬ 
pressed on the firmament. It said to them, that 
4 the purposes of his heart had been through all 
generations.’ 

Those who have the Bible in their hands need no 
other book : they do not now need such confirmation 
of the heavenly origin of their worship as was given 
by the 4 handiwork’ of God in the firmament; nor 
can we now fully understand how of old they read 
the wonderful and glorious canopy which was spread 
out to them. Yet such references as have been 
already made, and others to be subsequently adduced, 
plainly indicate, not only that they did read that 
book, under the direction of the Spirit of God itself, 
but, also, something of the way in which they drew 
the instruction; in the words of Bishop Horne, 4 By 
way of picture or representation.’ 


THE FIRMAMENT. 


115 


The principal objection which may be started to 
this, is the immensity and countless number of the 
orbs employed, while lesser lights, placed nearer the 
earth, would have answered the same purpose. But 
this difficulty is more imaginary than real. It arises 
from estimating God’s works by our own finite 
ideas, and making magnitude and space, which are 
nothing in the eye of Heaven, the chief, or a consti¬ 
tuent part of that in the creation wherein the glory 
of God consists. It is just as difficult to account 
for the infinite minuteness of the works of creation 
as for their infinite magnitude—the one is equally 
as incomprehensible to us as the other. We can 
no more understand why there should be, what 
appears to our finite comprehensions, such a waste 
of animal and vegetable life daily, over the surface 
of the globe, than we can comprehend why the 
celestial orbs should have been of such magnitude 
and in such number. All the works of God are 
infinite. His mercy is infinite; his union of mercy 
and justice is infinitely wonderful, infinitely glorious; 
and the universe,—which was to be the scene of that 
union of mercy and judgment, when he, who made 
the worlds, humbled himself to deaths —would not 
have been the fit arena for such an event, if it had 
not been unsearchably magnificent and grand. The 
depth of the humiliation he was to suffer, who was 
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, was 
only made more conspicuous, when, out of infinite 
orbs, the smallest planet was chosen ; out of the 
nations by whom it was inhabited, the least people 
selected; out of the tribes of that people, the least 


1J 6 


THE FIRMAMENT. 


of the thousands of Judah honoured; and amongst 
the families of Judah, the humblest and the poorest 
taken part with. 

So far, then, from viewing the magnitude of the 
celestial bodies, in comparison with the earth, and 
the space they occupy in creation, as forming any 
objections to their being employed by Divine Wis¬ 
dom, to minister to the earth, and to bear testimony 
to that truth, at which all heaven shall wonder 
without end,—w T e only recognize, in that provision, 
an arrangement which stamps it as proceeding from 
the same hand which 4 set the bounds of all other 
nations on the earth,’ with a direct reference to 4 the 
number of the children of Israel(the smallest of 
all its tribes— 4 the least of all people ;’) and which 
has conducted all the affairs of the mightiest states 
of the world, in every age, with a constant aspect to 
the completion, not of their schemes, but of the word 
of his prophecy. 

But there is a stronger answer than it wmild be¬ 
come the pen of man to give, to every objection that 
may be taken to the firmament being declaratory of 
the truth and settled purposes of God.— 4 Thus saitli 
the Lord : if my covenant be not with day and night: 
and if I have not appointed the ordinances of 
heaven and earth, then will I cast away the seed 
of Jacob and David my servant/ 

If we might venture to add a word, after such a 
quotation, it would be to ask the attentive reader to 
fix on any resting place, in his own mind, between a 
consideration of the whole creation as subservient 
to and illustrative of the Truth as it is in Jesus , 


THE FIRMAMENT. 117 

and viewing that Truth merely as an accident in one 
of the planets of one of the systems ! 

To this issue must the question between Reve¬ 
lation and Philosophy be brought, if the former is 
ever again to be publicly acknowledged, not as a 
mere moral engine, but, as a Witness from God. 


118 


CHAPTER VIII. 

RECAPITULATION. 

In the preceding chapters has been traced a brief 
outline of the media through which knowledge, con¬ 
cerning the ways and purposes of God, was first 
communicated to man. 

On reviewing what has been written, we are deeply 
sensible of the inadequate command of language to 
describe a mode of teaching which had Inspiration 
for its guide, and the tongue of angels to give it 
utterance. It would, indeed, be a subject, in every 
respect too high for us, or for any uninspired pen, 
were it necessary to demonstrate how the Illus¬ 
trative Symbols, and the Wondrous Speech which 
accompanied them, were first interwoven; or to 
describe or analyse the process of thought or of 
reasoning, by which the phenomena of nature were 
rendered so deeply interesting to the patriarchs, and 
so fertilising to the primitive stock from which all 
languages have sprung. It is fortunate that we 
require not to do more than prove that, by some 
radical connexion between natural signs, and words, 
and ideas, a rich fund of illustrative and prophetic 


RECAPITULATION. 


119 


metaphor was opened up to the early worshippers. 
We cannot now understand fully, nor is it requisite 
for us to do so, why such or such a form or figure 
conveyed such or such a lesson or doctrine; but it is 
a most important step, towards understanding what 
they did and said of old, that we ascertain the foun¬ 
tain from whence the fathers drew the living waters, 
wdiich refreshed them in their pilgrimage through 
life. Our enquiry, too, has this encouragement 
attending it, that it is not a fanciful question, such as 
a discussion respecting the situation of paradise, the 
stature of the antediluvians, or the cause of their 
longevity, but involves questions of the deepest 
moment and interest to all the human race; and the 
answers we give are appeals to the Law, to the 
Testimony, and to the history of the human race, as 
recorded, and as prophesied of, in the Scriptures of 
Truth. If we speak not according to these Scrip¬ 
tures, there is no truth in what we have written; 
but if we have quoted them aright, the truths we 
contend for will compel attention, and convince the 
understanding, however weak the language in which 
they are couched. 

Although we have already ascertained circum¬ 
stances, in the early history of the world, which can 
only be accounted for on the principles advocated in 
the preceding chapters, the Great Foundation on 
which our argument must rest is the Eternal and 
Unchangeable nature of the Purposes of Grace con¬ 
cerning man; the certainty that they were promised 
in Christ Jesus before the world began; and that, 
consequently, every part of creation must have been 


120 


RECAPITULATION. 


framed in reference to the declaration, the illustra¬ 
tion, and the fulfilment of these purposes. Feeling 
that the whole gist of the subject lies here , we shall 
be pardoned for, in this place again, earnestly calling 
the attention of the reader to it. 

If the universe generally, according to one school 
of modern philosophy, existed before the creation of 
the world :—if the world, at whatever time created, 
was a small part of a system ; into which part sin 
unexpectedly entered, so as to threaten the ruin of 
the inhabitants of that little planet, had a Great 
Being not interposed, and come into that planet to 
counteract, either by expiation or moral influence 
and example, the progress and the effects of this 
unanticipated interruption of God’s purposes :—or, if 
by any other arrangement of Providence, which can 
be described or imagined, the bringing of Life out of 
Death, or Good out of Evil, can be considered a 
secondary or accidental circumstance in the great 
designs of heaven:—or, if the bringing of Life out of 
Death is a work which any but God could devise, or 
any being but God himself, in very deed, execute,— 
then , if all or any of these suppositions be true, our 
premises are unstable and our conclusions worthless ! 
Our premises! Alas, what is man, whence came he 
or whither goes he, if the Divinity of the Person, 
and, consequently, the Eternity of the Purpose, of 
the Son of God, be yet a matter requiring proof ? 

But if that Holy Child, Jesus, who suffered under 
Pontius Pilate, was in very deed GOD, then life and 
immortality are not only brought to light, on a foun¬ 
dation against which the gates of hell cannot prevail, 


RECAPITULATION. 


121 


but the light from His Sepulchre illuminates all the 
pathways of Providence. It shows a unity of design, 
and a consistency of procedure in them, from the 
first creation of matter, to the hour when the elements 
shall melt with fervent heat, and the heavens shall 
pass away with a great noise. It establishes the 
name and character of the Saviour as the First and 
the Last, the Beginning and the Ending; it identi¬ 
fies the Word that said 4 Let there be light,’ with the 
voice that cried at the grave of Lazarus, 4 Lazarus, 
come forth !’ The same yesterday, to-day, and for 
ever. 

Immutability is the grand characteristic of Truth 
and of the True God. 4 1 am the Lord, I change 
not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.’ 
The more we learn in the Scriptures of the immuta¬ 
bility of the counsels of the Lord, the more firmly 
will the mind resist the reasonings of unbelief. 
Whenever we begin to think 4 the way of the Lord 
is hidden from us,’ then the anchor of the soul loses 
its hold. The strength of the anchor consists in the 
force of the evidence. 4 1 ever spake openly,’ is the 
language of Jesus in the New Testament; 4 1 have 
not spoken in secret; I said not to the house of 
Israel, Seek ye me in vain,’ are the words of the same 
Divine Person in the Old Testament. He ever spake 
openly, but it was always in figure or by 'parable ; 
because figures or parables were not only the best 
elucidators of heavenly tilings, but because, 4 when 
the thing came to pass’ that had been spoken of by 
figures, the evidence was more conclusive to the 
mind, when the event fulfilled many different figures , 


122 


RECAPITULATION. 


than it could possibly have been by merely fulfil¬ 
ling one often-repeated saying. 

The mind of man is peculiarly fitted for receiving, 
sifting, and appreciating evidence. The force of 
philosophy and the strength of science lie in the 
powerful effect which a chain of evidence, or of 
inductive reasoning, has on the mind; and the benign 
providence of the Giver of all good is seen, in filling 
nature with objects of endless interest and infinite 
variety, for the exercise of this great faculty of the 
human understanding. Can it be imagined, that the 
Creator would provide so abundantly towards the 
temporal wants, and even amusements, of his crea¬ 
tures, in the construction of the universe, and give 
him nothing in it for the exercise of his noblest 
faculty, in reference to a matter of such overwhelm¬ 
ing interest as His own intentions regarding man ? 
And if he did fill nature with testimonies concern¬ 
ing himself, in what way could such testimonies 
operate as counsellors, as strengthened to the mind 
of man, but as all bearing witness to some one great 
purpose, as everlasting in its origin as the God from 
whom it proceeded ? 

True it is, the things pertaining to the kingdom of 
heaven are often, or generally, considered, as not 
possessing the same degree of evidence as is found 
in mathematical demonstration: or, if they are 
thought capable of demonstration at all, how often 
are they only considered so, in consequence of a 
skilful application of the rules of rhetoric, or of 
moral philosophy, to the subject. The evidence 
does not lie in the light of the truth itself, but in 


RECAPITULATION. 


123 


the skill of the orator, in reconciling it to certain 
philosophical principles, which are first set up as 
the standard of truth. With what avidity a saying 
of Seneca or of Cicero is seized and fondled, if it 
make the smallest approach to truth; while the 
sayings of Him, who was Truth itself, are received 
nearly in the same spirit as was manifested by 
Pilate, when he asked, What is truth ? and w T ent 
out without waiting for the reply. Or, if the sayings 
of this Wonderful Counsellor, this Everlasting Fa¬ 
ther, or the servants he chose, are esteemed, is it not, 
too often, only as they are held as corroborating the 
previously recognized principles of moral philosophy? 
Thus estimating Revelation by Philosophy, instead of 
subjecting philosophy to the ordeal of the Prophets 
and Apostles. 

Again, as to the evidence regarding Revelation.— 
Can it be denied that a passage, in any Greek 
or Roman author, in which our Lord may be inci¬ 
dentally mentioned, is grasped at with an eagerness 
that implies there is some doubt to be satisfied ; and 
that the testimony of Tacitus is required, to corro¬ 
borate the witness of him who lay on Jesus’ breast at 
supper ? 

There must some grievous error lurk somewhere, 
when the evidence which truth ought always to 
bring with it, is thus rendered so fitful and unsatis¬ 
factory. No doubt, the saving evidence of the 
Scriptures is that which comes to the conscience by 
the power of the Spirit of God; but surely the 
medium through which it is conveyed, being of the 
nature of an historical memorial, cannot in itself be 


124 


RECAPITULATION. 


of that unsatisfactory kind. Some mist must have 
been thrown around it. Agrippa was no believer of 
the Gospel which Paul preached ; yet the Apostle 
says, 4 King Agrippa, this thing was not done in a 
corner; belie vest thou the prophets ? I know that 
thou believest.’ 

When we reflect on how much the enjoyment is 
marred, which might be drawn from the Scriptures, 
even in the way of interest; and as containing, 
incomparably, the most complete and wonderful de¬ 
monstration ever made to man; it is surely well worth 
enquiry whence arises this secondary place which 
has been allotted these words of truth, instead of 
the highest room ? We submit that it is, in no 
small degree, owing to the undue importance given, 
in early youth, to the writings of those who, pro¬ 
fessing themselves to be wise, became fools. Strange, 
that the dogmas of those who erected an altar to 
the unknown God, should be studied at the threshold 
of the Apostles ; and an estimate of the doctrines of 
Paul regulated by a previous intercourse with the 
Areopagites. 

If this undue, for we speak of the undue im¬ 
portance, not the legitimate use of the classic 
authors of Greece and Rome ; united to a feebleness 
and fluctuation in modern language, which is apt to 
give an uncertain, if not a false, meaning to many 
words,—if these causes militate against the beauty 
and harmony of the Scripture testimony, as a matter 
of evidence to ourselves, much more are they cal¬ 
culated to mislead us, in judging of the aspect which 
the truth, or the testimony regarding it, bore to the 


RECAPITULATION. 


125 


fathers. We have but escaped out of the mist of 
the dark ages of Europe; and we have escaped, 
with a Book in our hands, which she, whose name 
is MYSTERY, taught our predecessors, and teaches 
her children still, to look at with caution, suspicion, 
and fear. As the mist has been clearing away, in¬ 
stead of finding there the characters of mysticism 
and terror, we have seen ‘ fear not !’ emblazoned 
on every page. Yet we cannot quite forget the rod 
under which we once smarted. We know the im¬ 
potence of her threats, yet we tremble as she shakes 
her crutch. We found the book in the dead lan¬ 
guages ; and a kind of superstitious feeling still 
leads 4 the living to the dead; and to spirits that 
peep and mutter,’ for an exposition of it. We go 
peering with the lantern of Diogenes, to the pages 
of light and life, and joy and peace. 

Among the consequences which this mode of 
consulting the Bible is apt to produce, and that 
which has raised most of the obstacles in the way 
of our present enquiry, is the perverted and ridi¬ 
culous opinions regarding early times and ancient 
men, which we form, before going to the only Book 
which tells us a word of truth on the subject. 

It is notorious, that the prevailing foible, both of 
the Greeks and the Romans, was an exaltation of 
themselves at the expense of all others; while it is as 
well known, that the only scintillations of knowledge, 
in philosophy or morals, they possessed, were stolen 
from the Egyptians, or from a higher unacknow¬ 
ledged source. Yet, we form our ideas of what a 
philosopher should be from such men; and there is 


126 


RECAPITULATION. 


no denying, that we are almost ashamed not to find 
David or Moses quite filling up the space occupied 
by Marcus Aurelius in our imagination; and that 
some writers have taken a good deal of pains to 
stretch Solomon and Socrates on the same Procrus¬ 
tean bed. 

Owing to the prepossessions imbibed at the same 
source, we take a most contemptible view of the 
knowledge and acquirements of all who preceded 
the Greeks. Not content with ascribing, to that 
ingenious race, a degree of elegance and refinement 
in some studies and in some arts, to which, it may 
be fairly owned, none of their contemporaries at 
least had attained, we too readily think of that 
refinement, as the result of their own unaided 
genius; while they were, in fact, the most expert 
literary and scientific thieves of any age in the 
world; to which honourable calling their situation, 
between the East and Europe, gave them no ordi¬ 
nary facilities. With a full knowledge of this, we 
allow ourselves daily to be deceived, in the arts as 
well as in literature. If a pillar of more than ordi¬ 
nary beauty be found in Palestine or in the Desert, 
it is immediately noted down that the Greeks must 
have been there; forgetful that, ere they had begun 
to steal their architecture from other nations, a 
temple had been reared at Jerusalem, the pattern of 
which had been given from heaven ! We are 
charmed to find Plato acknowledging a future state; 
and we are delighted to meet with such a confir¬ 
mation of Christianity on so high and respectable 
authority ! while his laboured reasoning is merely a 


RECAPITULATION. 


127 


proof that the ancient universal belief in a future 
state was, in his day, not quite extinct! That the 
cogitations of Plato might be supposed to nerve the 
arm of Cato to self-destruction, is a very reasonable 
poetical use of them : but it is lamentable to see 
them appealed to, to strengthen the doctrine of a 
future state, by any who have in their hands a 
lesson, on the doctrine of the resurrection, from a 
man in the land of Uz, ages before Plato was born, 
which would have made the ears of that philosopher 
tingle. 

We must, again, protest against it being supposed 
that we are at all disposed to undervalue classical 
learning. Without it, what could we know of the 
original languages in which the words of Eternal 
Life were written ? What we deprecate is the dis¬ 
torted and childish ideas concerning ancient things, 
which an overweening importance given to the 
writings and opinions of Greece and Rome is apt 
to generate,—ideas which make us think of the 
early inhabitants of the world as of children and 
savages, and, which so connect perfection with the 
higher branches of the Greek philosophy, as to make 
us forget that philosophy must stand at the bar of 
Scripture. The words that shall never fall to the 
ground, or pass away, can never be subjected, 
without profanation, to the ordeal of schools, which 
borrowed their best thoughts from corrupted reports 
and traditions of that very revelation which we dare 
scarcely own to be true without first receiving their 
sanction ! ! 

Forcing our way through the crowd of heathen 


128 


RECAPITULATION. 


writers, who would fain persuade us that, until they 
began to philosophize —in other words, to doubt — 
there were neither wisdom nor common sense in 
the world ; and taking the pieces of the ancient lan¬ 
guage, which their prattle has not broken to atoms, 
or Jewish superstition perverted, what have we 
already found awaiting us at the fountain of know¬ 
ledge and instruction first opened up to man? 

Creation itself coming into existence by progres¬ 
sive stages; indicating a settled purpose in its birth, 
and a fixed period for its continuance : each step 
illustrating the ways of Him, who is wonderful in 
counsel—even those ways of Heaven which never 
can be comprehended by mortals, save when they 
are clothed in figurative images and language. 

We have beheld it finished, a temple, every whit 
of which utters forth the glory of God; — even that 
glory which consists in doing what no created 
intelligence or power could do—bringing light out 
of darkness, and making evil productive of good. 

A creature is placed in that temple, fitted to ap¬ 
preciate the glory of God, so wonderfully displayed 
in his works — who, though abundantly warned 
against yielding to temptation, fell; and so brought 
in the first practical knowledge of evil into the 
visible creation. While he is trembling under a fear 
of the righteous judgment of God, and the old enemy 
is exulting, in having marred the merciful purposes 
of God towards man; behold the first practical 
moral illustration of God’s ultimate and great pur¬ 
pose— that of mercy rejoicing over judgment!— 
the introduction of the promise manifesting, how, 


RECAPITULATION. 


129 


though sin appeared reigning unto death, grace would 
ultimately reign, through the righteousness of the seed 
of the woman, unto eternal life. 

In the situation in which Adam then stood, we were 
led to contemplate the amazing power that would be 
given to the promise, as a comforter, by the evi¬ 
dence afforded, at the creation, that the promise and 
the fulfilment of it had been God’s eternal purpose. 
Adam was thus assured, that mercy was built in 
the very heavens, and that 4 God was not a man 
that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should 
repent.’ For the still more efficient strengthening 
of the faith of Adam’s family and descendants, we 
have seen also a remarkable course of instruction 
provided. God had not yet done any of those 
marvellous wrnrks among the children of men, which 
now fill the pages of his book, and are recorded 
there, that 4 we, through the patience and comfort 
of the Scriptures, might have hope.’ But in lieu of 
this, Fie furnished the elements of 4 instruction in 
righteousness ; of a nature which, while they were, 
to them, the evidence of things not seen, laid the 
foundation of all knowledge and all prophecy, in such 
a connexion between language and the visible 
emblems stamped upon and around the creation, as 
enriched most marvellously the medium of communi¬ 
cation between God and man; proved its Divine 
origin and authority ; and incontestably demonstrated 
that the God who keepeth covenant and mercy for 
ever, is the God who made the heavens and the 
earth, and all that in them is. 

It remains for us, in the following chapters, to 

K 


130 


RECAPITULATION. 


trace the influence of this mode of instruction on 
the families and tribes of the earth—on the seed of 
the serpent, as well as on those with whom they 
have always made war; even on those who kept the 
commandments of God, and held by the testimony 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. 


131 


CHAPTER IX. 

THE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 

The branch of the posterity of Adam which naturally 
first claims our attention, is the line of the antedilu¬ 
vian patriarchs, extending from Adam to Noah. 
As Paul, in writing to the Hebrews, has given a 
very interesting commentary on the most remarkable 
passages in their history, we propose taking that 
commentary in connexion with the brief record left 
by Moses. But, ere doing so, there are some con¬ 
siderations which it is necessary to keep in mind, in 
consulting that commentary. We shall therefore 
offer a few preliminary remarks on 

1st. The nature of all the New Testament com¬ 
mentaries on the Old Testament. 

2d. The nature of Faith. And, 

3d. The example given, by the Apostle, of Faith 
in the abstract, ere he proceeds to show how it influ¬ 
enced the Old Testament worshippers. 

In regard to the New Testament commentaries on 
the Old Testament, we observe, in them all, a close 
adherence to the record. The Spirit of God, which 
was. bestowed on the Apostles, does not appear to 


132 THE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 

have revealed to them any circumstances in the 
lives or characters of the elders, with which they 
were not previously acquainted, or which were not 
matters of historical record; but it explained to 
them, as they explain to their readers, the causes 
which influenced the elders to act as they did — the 
reasons for the course of conduct they pursued. 
Still, even in explaining these causes and reasons, 
they always prove their assertions by what is 
recorded ; and not by something in the characters or 
conduct of those of whom they write, previously 
unknown to those to whom they addressed them¬ 
selves. A forcible illustration of this is afforded by 
our Lord himself, when he proves that Moses was 
instructed in the doctrine of the resurrection. Our 
Lord, who knew all things from the beginning, 
could, if he had seen meet, have set the question at 
rest, as to whether the hope of the resurrection had 
been revealed to Moses, by saying, 4 Before Moses 
was, I am; and I, who know the nature of the faith 
and hope of Moses, can assure you, that he did 
possess that hope.’ This is, however, never the way 
in which he, or his servants the Apostles, referred to 
the Old Testament. It was always with them, 
‘What is written? How readest thou?’ Accordingly, 
he proves that Moses was not ignorant of the 
doctrine of the resurrection, by quoting what is re¬ 
corded to have taken place at the bush. In the same 
manner, when Paul wishes to prove that the elders 
lived by faith, he demonstrates that their recorded 
acts bore testimony to this. 

But, in consulting him concerning these men of 


THE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 133 


old, it is necessary for us to attend to the second 
proposition before us,—the nature of the Faith by 
which he says they were actuated. 

He begins, by defining Faith, or Belief, to be 
‘ the ground or confidence of things hoped for, the 
evidence of things not seen.’ He does not puzzle 
and perplex his readers, by attempting to describe 
that which is indescribable, the operations of the 
mind; but he asserts, that the assent of the mind or 
understanding, to anything hoped for, must rest on, 
and arises from, evidence. The corollary to be 
drawn from this is, plainly, that whenever we hear 
or read of any being actuated by the hope of some¬ 
thing not seen, there must have been evidence laid 
before them of a very convincing nature, concerning 
the unseen tilings, when it made them prefer future 
blessings to present enjoyments. 

To place his meaning beyond any doubt, the 
Apostle prefaces his historical references with an 
illustration, which any one may understand, of what 
it is to believe a matter upon evidence. He says, 
‘ By faith we understand that the worlds were created 
by the Word of God ; so that things which are seen 
were not made of things which do appear.’ 

What are the unseen things here ? The creation 
of the worlds. Where is the evidence ? The things 
that are seen . 

We are aware that this passage is generally 
quoted, as an exemplification of what it is to be¬ 
lieve a thing simply on assertion , without any proof. 
But this would be a strange way to illustrate the 
Faith which rests on evidence — a singular mode of 


134 THE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 

enforcing his argument,—by bringing forward an 
instance to the contrary. 

But how do the visible things bring evidence that 
they were created by the word of God? Just by 
their appearance corroborating the testimony of the 
Scriptures regarding their creation. Suppose that 
the earth and heavens did not present the aspect 
they do to us; that there was no sun to rule the 
day, no moon to rule the night; and that, under 
such circumstances, we were called upon to believe 
the Mosaic account. This would be a good instance 
of believing without evidence. But would we be¬ 
lieve it without evidence ? The thing is impossible. 
There may be hope against hope, that is against any 
present appearance of its fulfilment; but belief 
against evidence , is as opposed to the Scripture ac¬ 
count of it, as to common sense. 

We are the more anxious to direct attention to 
this, because the simple Faith of the Scriptures is 
not only sadly darkened, by making it to consist in 
a blind admission of something inexplicable; but 
because scepticism draws many into her net, by 
persuading them, that they may safely doubt the 
correctness of many things stated in the Scriptures, 
and yet maintain reliance on their general veracity. 
The assertion is as false in ethics as it is in theology. 
Entertain doubts of the correctness of a messenger 
in trifling matters, and reliance on his testimony re¬ 
specting greater affairs will soon give way. Take 
the instance before us, of credence in the Scripture 
account of the creation of the worlds. Can we 
daily listen to grave assertions respecting the impos- 


THE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 135 


sibility of reconciling the phenomena of nature with 
the Mosaic account, and yet entertain that veneration 
for the words of Moses which is due to the writings 
of the prophet who spake face to face with God ? 
Nay, our next step will be, to listen, as patiently, to 
lucubrations respecting the learning he gained in 
Egypt; until we end in doubting his inspiration, 
and see nothing in the tabernacle but imitations of 
Egyptian splendour, and copies of the services in the 
temples of On. 

On the other hand, if we are accustomed to com¬ 
pare the works of nature with the Scripture account 
of their formation, and see, at every view, new cir¬ 
cumstances coinciding with that account, is not our 
faith in, our credence of, that account strengthened ? 
We received the account from a quarter in which we 
had perfect reliance ; and we find in this, as in every 
thing else, that God is true. The mind is thereby 
strengthened; not merely in respect to the matter 
immediately under consideration, but in every other 
testimony proceeding from the same quarter; and 
we acknowledge, with thankfulness, that in this, as 
in every other article of faith, it is not 4 a thing in¬ 
credible we are called upon to believe. Observe, 
too, even in this instance of faith, in the creation of 
the worlds by the Word of God, how closely linked 
faith and hope are together. The truth of the Word 
of God respecting the present heavens and earth, 
confirms to our minds the truth of its testimony 
respecting the new heavens and the new earth. It 
thus becomes to us 4 the ground or confidence of things 
hoped for.' We are on an earth that has been cursed; 


136 THE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 

we are hoping for a heaven and an earth 4 wherein 
dwelleth righteousness;’ and every confirmation to our 
minds that it was Jesus, the Word of God, who said, 
4 Let light be,’ and 4 Light was,’ in the manner de¬ 
scribed by his servant Moses, is a confirmation to our 
expectation, that the time is approaching, when all 
who are in their graves shall hear the same powerful 
word. 

Having premised these few remarks on the nature 
of the faith, which the Apostle proposes to illustrate 
by examples from the Old Testament, let us attend 
to such instances he adduces, as are connected with 
this branch of our enquiry. The first is, that 4 by 
faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacri¬ 
fice than Cain.’ 

As has been already noticed, he is not here telling 
us, by inspiration, something which the record is 
silent about; he is, by inspiration, drawing an 
inference from the recorded account; ascribing a 
motive for Abel’s conduct which the record corro¬ 
borates ; referring us to works done by Abel, which 
can be accounted for on no principle, but that he 
was actuated by a faith and hope in something not 
seen—faith which could not have existed without 
evidence. In accordance with this, another apostle 
says, that 4 Abel’s works were righteous, and Cain’s 
works evil.’ What works ? They are thus re¬ 
corded : 

4 And it came to pass, that on the appointed days 
Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering 
unto the Lord. 


THE PERFECT IN TIIEIR GENERATIONS. 137 

4 And Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his 
sheep and goats, and of the fat thereof.’ 

These are the only recorded works of Abel. There 
was one icork of Cain afterwards, the murder of 
his brother; but that is not included in the works 
to which the apostle John alludes, when he con¬ 
trasts their acts; for he says, ‘ wherefore slew lie 
him ? because his own works were evil, and his bro¬ 
ther’s righteous.’ The evil works of Cain, which 
contrasted with the good works of Abel, preceded 
the murder, and were the cause of it. 

We must not indulge the fancy, that the apostles, 
in referring to this matter, are telling us something 
unheard of before, about the general character or 
dispositions of the two young men. These inspired 
writers were not so ill-instructed scribes, as to un¬ 
dertake to prove any thing from the Scriptures, and 
make out their argument by supplying facts. They 
referred to a Book, read in the synagogues every 
Sabbath, and in the churches every first day of the 
week ; and the whole force of their argument lay in 
their being sufficient, in the record, to sustain, and 
verify what they said. 

The evil works of Cain and the good works of 
Abel lay entirely then in the nature of their offer¬ 
ings. It will not do to indulge in speculations 
about the dispositions with which they were brought; 
that the Bible says nothing of—or rather, what it 
does say, militates against the idea, that Cain came 
with his offering either grudgingly or of necessity, 
or under any kind of bad disposition. It was not 
until his offering was rejected, that ‘ his countenance 


138 THE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 

fell .’ This expression seems rather to intimate that 
he had come with cheerfulness and alacrity. 

We shall, in vain, attempt to find a satisfactory 
explanation of this remarkable transaction, without 
availing ourselves of the information we have ob¬ 
tained, regarding the place of worship to which 
these offerings were brought. 

At the east of Eden, the insignia, which after¬ 
wards constituted the glory of the tabernacle and 
temple, had been placed. There God dwelt between 
the cherubim, and from thence we find Him speaking 
to the worshippers. There the fire of wrath blazed,— 
there the living forms appeared; and near them in 
every temple the altar stood. 

Cain, the first born, approaches with his offering. 
But what is its nature ? Fruits from the ground, 
which the Lord had cursed; without any propi¬ 
tiation—any thing to intimate his belief in the pro¬ 
mise, or in the truth illustrative of that promise, 
which was ‘keeping the way of the tree of life.’ 
There could be no faith in Cain’s offering—no respect 
to something unseen ; and ‘ without faith it is impos¬ 
sible to please God.’ Therefore, to 4 Cain and his 
offering God had not respect.’ For, how could he 
reward openly that which had no respect to his re¬ 
vealed Truth ? 

Abel draws near, but with what? With the 

SAME OFFERINGS WHICH WERE AFTERWARDS OF¬ 
FERED under the law ; not merely with the 
firstlings of his sheep and his goats, but the 
fat thereof, respecting which so many injunc- 


THE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 139 

tions were afterwards given to the priests under the 
law. 

In the similarity between the offering which Abel 
brought, and those which were afterwards the subject 
of so many admonitions from the top of Sinai, and 
from between the cherubim—the identity of the wor¬ 
ship of Eden with that of the tabernacle and temple 
is clearly established. The distinction between clean 
and unclean animals was observed in both cases— 
the first-born were alike chosen, and the fat of the 
offering is noticed in the one case as well as in the 
other. Why, therefore, should Paul select Abel’s 
sacrifice, as a proof of his faith, while he passes over 
all the other Old Testament sacrifices ; or at least 
does not allude to the faith in which they were 
offered ? The distinction between them seems to 
have consisted in this.: under the law, sacrifice was 
rendered incumbent on all the seed of Abraham ac¬ 
cording to the flesh : they were bound by the law, 
and under the curse of it, to observe them. Under 
the law, therefore, it became a form; ordained to 
keep alive a public attestation to the faith which was 
afterwards to be revealed, whatever might be the 
faith of the individual worshippers. 4 The law was 
not of faith ; for, Cursed is every one that continueth 
not in all things that are written in the book of the 
law to do them.’ The law said nothing about the 
faith of the worshippers ; it commanded them a form 
of worship to be observed, whatever their faith might 
be. It pointed to something to be believed in; but 
the faith of the individual worshippers was a matter 


140 TIIE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 

between themselves and God. The law itself was 
satisfied if the matter prescribed were attended to. 

In the case of Cain and Abel, on the other hand, 
the bringing of the offering seems to have been a 
voluntary act. In this case, the nature of their faith 
would be plainly indicated by the nature of their 
respective offerings. Cain’s offering, as we have 
seen, had nothing of the faith in it which is the 
ground or confidence of things hoped for, the evidence 
of things not seen. The offering of Abel had these 
characteristics; for he brought an innocent substitute , 
(as its name indicated) on which the fire from the 
cherubim fell; consumption by fire being always the 
way in which respect was shewn to an offering, by 
4 the God who answereth by fire.’ And, as the pro¬ 
mise had explicitly said, that it was the seed of the 
woman that was to take away sin, or bruise it, and 
not a lamb — so Abel’s faith must have respected 
something future and unseen, of which the lamb was 
a type. Well, then, might the Apostle say, 4 by 
faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice 
than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was 
righteous, (justified ?) Gocl testifying of his gifts , and 
by it he, being dead, yet speaketh.’ And if we ask 
what taught Abel to do this ? the answer will be 
found in that figurative preaching of the truth at 
Eden, to which Abel’s offering figuratively responded, 
but which Cain disregarded. 

The rest of the scene in the Edenic temple is 
remarkable. W hen Cain saw that his offering was 
not 4 looked upon, he was very wroth and his coun¬ 
tenance fell.’ 4 Why art thou wroth?’ the Lord says 


TIIE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 141 


to him, 4 and why is thy countenance fallen ? If 
thou doest well’—if thou bringest my approved 
ottering — 4 shalt thou not have the excellency V —is 
not the birthright, is not the priesthood thine ? c But 
if thou doest not well’—if thou bringest not the 
offering in which I smell a savour of rest—‘shall the 
sin-offering lie at the door V —shall I want a man 
to stand before me in my house to offer it ? Nay, 
in that case the elder shall serve the younger. But 
Abel covets not this birthright; 4 his desire is to¬ 
wards thee / and thou shalt yet have the supremacy 
4 if thou obeyest my voice indeed — but my offering, 
in its appointed time, shall not be wanting/ 

The sequel gives a just but melancholy picture, 
of the consequences of listening to the suggestions 
of 4 that wicked one,’ instead of taking heed to the 
counsels of Him who teacheth to profit. 4 Cain 
talked to Abel, his brother,’ and we may suppose 
what the subject of their conversation would be. 
Maddened at the thought of the preference shown 
to Abel’s vicarious sacrifice, over his own more 
rational mode of worship, and blindly imagining 
that the death of his brother would remove every 
difficulty regarding the priesthood, 4 he rose up 
against Abel his brother and slew him.’ 

But the purposes of God are never to be frustrated 
by the opposition of man;—nay, 4 he makes the 
very wrath of man to praise him.’ The apostacy 
of Cain, the murder and its punishment, only served 
to point out, more distinctly, the line of demarcation 
between the truth and the lie, and the spirit which 
animates the latter; while it confirmed the word of 


142 TIIE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 


God, that he would put enmity between the seed of 
the woman and the seed of the serpent, in a spiritual 
as well as in a literal sense. It also gave room for 
a new illustration of God’s sovereign way of deal¬ 
ing, in providing a Substitute (Seth)—a way which 
was often afterwards exemplified ; as in the case of 
Jacob and Esau ; Ephraim and Manasseh ; the tribe 
of Levi, as substitutes for the first-born ; Samuel in 
place of the family of Eli; David in place of Saul, 
and many others. It is very remarkable, also, that 
the punishment of Cain was the same as the punish¬ 
ment of the first-born church of the Jews, which 
imbrued its hand in the blood of the Great Martyr 
to the truth. To them pertained the birthright and 
the priesthood ; but ever since the righteous blood 
of their own brother was shed, they have been 
wanderers and vagabonds in the earth; and, like 
Cain, a mark has been set on them, and their 
preservation, as a separate people, while driven out 
from the presence of God, is, unto this day, a mira¬ 
culous witness to the truth of revelation. 

Although Adam had many sons, one is chosen in 
place of Abel , whom Cain slew. This plainly inti¬ 
mates, not only that a line of descendants was to be 
kept separate, in which the true worship was to be 
maintained, and in which, in the fulness of time, the 
promised seed of the woman was to appear,—but 
that a choice was, in every case, made of a son, to 
whom pertained the excellency or priesthood which 
Cain and his descendants forfeited. This is the line 
of the recorded Patriarchs; the sons of God; the 
generation to the Lord who sought the face or 

1 


THE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 143 


presence of the God of Jacob ; exclusion from which 
presence (the cherubim at Eden) even Cain considered 
a punishment greater than he could bear. In the 
days of Enos, the son of Seth, public preaching was 
added to the other institutions by which the name of 
the Lord was declared. 

4 This generation of the upright’ was kept 1 perfect’ 
until the deluge : for a very important purpose, as 
we shall afterwards see. In the meantime, some 
remarkable lessons in the faith were given. 

Nine hundred years after the creation, and about 
the same period from the deluge, seven of these 
patriarchs were alive, in the enjoyment of each 
other’s society at the east of Eden. Death had not 
yet overtaken Adam, nor have we any intimation, 
nor any reason to suppose, that it had yet happened, 
from natural causes, amongst any of his posterity. 
Yet, even then, when death had not reached him 
on whom it was pronounced, and he was now nearly 
a thousand years old, Enoch calls his son Methu¬ 
selah— (he dies , and the Lord cometh) : certainly 
an extraordinary instance of the faith which is the 
evidence of things not seen, as well as the most 
exact prophecy in respect to time of any recorded 
in the Scriptures. 

The situation of the Church at Eden was at this 
period very interesting; with her seven Elders or 
Patriarchs, alive and ministering at her altar. 
Adam dies , and a few years afterwards Enoch is 
translated that he should not see death; two most 
wonderful and instructive lessons within so short a 


144 THE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 

But the instruction which the translation of 
Enoch was calculated to convey, would have been 
greatly lost, if there had not appeared something 
before his translation , which would account to the 
Patriarchs for such a demonstration of the Divine 
favour in his case. That instructive something was 
his faith — a faith in Him who is invisible. That 
faith was evidenced in the name he gave his son; 
and, we are warranted to say, it was a faith that 
respected not only death , but the resurrection and 
change of the body—for the reward of it was trans¬ 
lation —and the reward of faith has always been of 
the nature of the thing hoped for. Thus did the 
Patriarchs, within a few short years, witness the 
execution, literally, .of the threatened curse on 
Adam, and obtain a confirmation of their hope of 
redemption from it, as explicit in the person of 
Enoch, as the judgment had been in the person of 
Adam. 

We have not ceased to admire the prophetic faith 
of Enoch, when we are called to consider an equally 
strong instance of it, in the case of Lamech, who 
names his son (Noah), and expresses his hope regard¬ 
ing him, with a direct reference to the station he was 
to occupy, and the work he was to be engaged in, 
six hundred years afterwards. 

The station Noah held was so eminent, as a 
preacher of righteousness or justification, and the 
work he was to be employed in so great, that his 
character and fitness for them required to be borne 
testimony to. As he preached justification, so, to 
give his preaching weight, he appeared influenced 


THE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 145 

himself by that which he declared—testimony was 
therefore borne to him as a just man. And as he 
was to be the first priest in the new world, so he 
behoved to be ‘ perfect in his generations ’—of the 
right line from Seth—of the untainted order of the 
patriarchal priesthood, unmixed and uncontaminated 
by connexion with the daughters of men. 

With Noah the line of the antediluvian elders 
closes; and although the notices of their history 
are neither numerous nor lengthy, they are very 
conclusive regarding the nature of their religious 
knowledge and belief. We behold them, not only 
instructed as to the ground of justification before 
God, and giving lessons in the faith by which, 
even to this day, they, though dead, yet speak;— 
but we see the hope of the resurrection and the 
hope of a change on the human body, so as to fit it 
to walk with God, so strong, that one of them is 
rewarded for his faith in this respect, by being taken 
in the body into those mansions whither Elijah was 
afterwards in like manner translated. 

But, above all, we behold in their history the 
commencement of that separation between light and 
darkness — between truth and falsehood — between 
the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, 
which was to be carefully maintained, openly in the 
world, until the Great Priest and Prophet arose, 
perfect in his generations, by whom all righteous¬ 
ness was to be fulfilled. When the time arrived 
that the book of the generations of Jesus Christ, 
the son of David, the son of Abraham, had to 
be made up, it then appeared that God had, from 

L 


146 THE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 

the very first, been preserving that genealogy pure 
and incontrovertible; so that even at his birth it 
should appear that He was, indeed, the son pro¬ 
mised to Eve, who was to bruise the head of the 
serpent. 

While this was, evidently, one of the grand ob¬ 
jects which Divine Providence had in view in the 
record which was kept from the beginning; it w T as 
no less apparent that, if possible, a still more im¬ 
portant purpose was subserved by it. 

Sacrifices had, from the first, been offered up by 
priests, in a line chosen by God ; and they were 
continued in that line till He came who suffered 
without the gate. In whatever faith, with whatever 
view, sacrifices might have been brought to the 
altar, amongst other courses of priests in other 
nations, the elders first, and ‘ the twelve tribes in¬ 
stantly serving God day and night,’ offered sacrifices 
plainly of a typical and prospective nature; sacri¬ 
fices which, when attended to according to the 
Divine commandment, clearly indicated that all 
the efficacy they had, was derived from that which 
was prefigured, and not from any merit of their 
own. 

Nothing could, therefore, more clearly show, that 
the Lord Jesus was the true victim—that his sacri¬ 
fice was for the redemption of sins that were past, 
as well as future; nor any thing more strikingly 
justify the faith of the elders, than that the Lord, 
when he was offered, was led to the altar by the 
hands of priests, descended of, and in the right line 
of the patriarchs and elders. It most distinctly 

2 


THE PERFECT IN THEIR GENERATIONS. 147 

pointed him out as the antitype of all those atoning 
sacrifices, by which the sins of the world were 
typically purged, by those whom he chose to 
minister to him, from the time of righteous Abel, to 
the time of Zacharias, son of Barachias, who was 
slain between the temple and the altar. 


148 


CHAPTER X. 

THE FLOOD. 

Although the testimony from heaven regarding 
man has always been of a very humiliating nature, 
yet there appears to have been something pre¬ 
eminently bad in the policy and public conduct of 
mankind, for some time previous to the flood. The 
fertility of the earth had, probably, been much 
greater than it afterwards was, and the air more 
salubrious;—as seems to be attested by the extra¬ 
ordinary longevity of the antediluvians. That lon¬ 
gevity, and the abundance of all things, would 
naturally tend to make the bulk of mankind reckless 
of any thing but present enjoyment, and unmindful 
of the certainty of death. There seems, also, to 
have been a great disposition to violence, unruliness, 
and contempt of government;—arising in part, it 
may be conjectured, from the want of the authority, 
afterwards given, to punish murder by tbe death of 
the culprit. 

While these circumstances appear to have induced 
a state of corruption and violence, among the mass of 


THE FLOOD. 


149 


the people, the true worship was losing its followers, 
by the seductive arts of the daughters of men, and 
other causes. So awful was this defection, that there 
seemed to be none ‘to stand in the breach;’ and God 
said, 4 1 will destroy man, whom I have created, 
from the face of the earth.’ 

The wiles of the enemy, which the promise had 
frustrated in the case of Adam, and which the ap¬ 
pointment of Seth had nullified in the instance of 
Cain, threatened at last to be successful. But God 
had a plan of escape and of mercy in store,— 4 Noah 
found grace in the eyes of the Lordor, in the 
words applied to a preacher of righteousness, like 
himself, long afterwards, 4 he obtained mercy of 
the Lord to be faithful/ But Noah’s 4 preaching of 
righteousness’ seemed to the busy world like idle 
tales. 

It would appear from the Lord threatening, when 
he commanded Noah to make the Ark, that His 
Spirit 4 should not always strive with man, yet, that 
his days should be one hundred and twenty years,’ 
that the Ark was one hundred and twenty years in 
building, or, as the Apostle Peter terms it, 4 a pre¬ 
paring.’ We see good grounds, then, for Paul saying 
that Noah did so in faith , as the danger he appre¬ 
hended was not seen. But how he should be styled 
a 4 preacher of righteousness,’ and why it should be 
said, 4 he became heir of the righteousness which is 
by faith,’ when not one word about righteousness 
is to be found in the record of what he did or said, 
calls for some enquiry. 

God threatened the flood, because 4 all flesh had 


150 


THE FLOOD. 


corrupted HIS way' The way of God was seen 
where 6 the way of the Tree of Life was kept/ This 
way all flesh had corrupted, and gone aside after 
their own ways. The way of the Tree of Life was 
a memorial of the Truth of God,—a public declara¬ 
tion of the Divine Righteousness. Divine Right¬ 
eousness was written and emblazoned at the east of 
the Garden of Eden. When a preacher came from 
thence, to warn a sinful world, he must have studied 
the doctrine of the Lord, which was held up at 
Eden, to very little purpose, if he had anything to 
testify of, in his preaching, but ‘ the Righteousness 
which saveth from death/ 

To the preacher of this Righteousness the Lord 
says, ‘ thee only have I seen righteous before me in 
this generation/ We cannot suppose, that on the 
whole earth, at that time, amongst all the millions, 
there was not one honest man, nor one respectable 
character, save Noah. But they all, with the soli¬ 
tary exception of Noah, had forsaken the way of 
the Lord. He cleaved to the Lord and to his 
Righteousness, with full purpose of heart, in the 
midst of a crooked and perverse generation; and, 
when he came abroad to warn a guilty world, the 
quarter he came from would be very well known, 
and the subject of his preaching pretty shrewdly 
guessed, even by those who might not personally 
hear him. 

But his preaching was not confined to words ; 
he was engaged in an act that would soon be noised 
abroad, and be heard of in the most remote coun¬ 
tries. Noah, in making the Ark, both preached to 


TIIE FLOOD. 


151 


the world and condemned the world. He could 
not, for one hundred and twenty years, have been 
preparing an Ark, without the world becoming well 
acquainted with the nature of his fears; and it could 
not have known this without knowing full well, by 
the preaching of the Ark, that the destruction, if it 
came at all, w r ould come because they had forsaken 
the way to which Noah adhered. 

There was also another public ground of accusa¬ 
tion against them, which would give great meaning 
to the preaching of the Ark. When God made the 
heavens and the earth in six days, he rested on the 
seventh day, and hallowed it. The world could 
not have been in the state of violence described, 
without these days of the Lord being desecrated 
and despised. The first step of infidelity, in every 
age, is to despise the Sabbaths of the Lord. When 
Israel, in after ages, did so, they were carried away 
captive, that the land might enjoy its /Sabbaths I 
Few Sabbaths, indeed, could the earth have enjoyed 
■when it w r as covered with violence; and it is a cir¬ 
cumstance which, to look back upon, may make the 
stoutest heart quail, which despises or disregards 
the Lord’s instituted days of rest for man and for 
the earth,—that it was on the SEVENTH day 
that the flood was brought in upon the world of the 

. i* — - * . • 

ungodly! 

Behold, too, the goodness as well as the severity 
of God ! One hundred and twenty years the long- 
suffering of God waited while the Ark was prepar¬ 
ing. How remarkably were the faith and hope of 
Noah tried during this period! All things seemed 


152 


THE FLOOD. 


to continue as they were from the creation of the 
world. The Lord appeared, to mankind, to delay 
his coming; and the wickedness of man seemed 
increasing rather than diminishing. In vain would 
Noah remind them, that the same Almighty word 
which commanded the waters to go into the place 
appointed for them, had but to speak, and they 
would again issue forth to devastate the earth; or 
the expansion cease, at his word, to divide between 
the waters above and below the firmament. In vain 
would he instruct them, that the upholding of all 
things as they were, was as much a daily act of 
God’s power as the framing of them at first; in vain 
assure them, that the purpose of their being upheld 
was for vindicating the Truth of God, which man 
was disregarding ; and that a continued disregard 
of that Truth, and the ordinances in which it was 
shewn, would as truly bring on the day of retribu¬ 
tion, as respect to His ordinances had met the re¬ 
ward of righteousness. The men of renown were 
too deeply immersed in the pleasures of the world, 
and in the abuse of God’s gifts, to attend to such 
unwelcome truths; or they were too wise, in their 
own conceits, to lower their 4 gigantic minds’ to the 
obsolete philosophy of the handful of worshippers at 
Eden. 

If admonition was disregarded when Noah first 
began to preach, how would disregard turn to deri¬ 
sion, when they saw the infatuated man — as he 
would be deemed—actually begin to build a vessel for 
safety from the prophesied storm ; and as year after 
year rolled on, and the sky continued unclouded, 


THE FLOOD. 


153 


how would the finger of scorn be raised towards the 
useless and cumbrous edifice, in which he proposed 
to seek for shelter ! What, but the firmest reliance 
on the word of Him who cannot lie, could have 
supported the Prophet amidst the contempt to which 
he was exposed ? what but the faith which was the 
evidence of things not seen, could have made him 
enter the Ark, amidst the contumely of the world, 
while yet there was not a speck in the horizon to in¬ 
dicate the coming ruin ? 

It icas seven days after Noah entered into the ark 
ere the flood came. Whether we think of the anxi¬ 
eties and agitation of those within, (of whom Ham, 
afterwards the despiser of the promise, was one,) or 
the shouts of laughter from without, during that 
week, it is impossible for imagination to conceive 
any scene in which the powers of description so ut¬ 
terly fail—unless it be the seventh day itself, when 
all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, 
and the windows of heaven were opened. 

Reader, is this a fictitious scene we are bringing 
to mind; or was it so indeed, as the earth itself 
bears testimony to this day, that the world that then 
was, being overwhelmed with water, perished, and 
that few, that is, eight souls, were saved in the 
despised ark ? Was it so of a truth, and with the 
assurance of inspiration itself, that this was the same 
figure as baptism— can we longer shut our eyes to 
the figurative nature of preaching under the Old 
Testament ? Was ever a sermon written in charac¬ 
ters so legible, in terms so terrific, as this? Was 
ever the washing away of iniquity by water ever so 


154 


THE FLOOD. 


fearfully illustrated ? Or was ever MERCY RE¬ 
JOICING OYER JUDGMENT so conspicuously 
displayed in figure, as when the ark rose upon the 
waters, and was carried over the billows ? In the 
midst of this storm, this scene of horror and deso¬ 
lation, from which imagination shrinks even at this 
lapse of time,—a despised ‘ vessel of mercy’ is seen 
riding aloft in safety; guided, miraculously guided, 
by that glorious arm of might, which will continue 
to preserve the truth and those who cling to it, 
through every tempest and amidst every danger, un¬ 
til they reach in safety the desired haven. The 
thief on the cross found mercy at the eleventh hour; 
and one of our own poets has written of 4 Mercy 
sought and mercy found between the stirrup and the 
ground/ We know not what eye observed the ark— 
what prayer for mercy may have been put up, and 
heard, from among the surrounding billows, when it 
was seen : but of this we may be assured, that many 
amongst the sufferers, who had thought with indiffe¬ 
rence or contempt of the gleam of mercy which the 
promise beamed upon Adam, when he was in distress, 
would now gladly grasp at every figure, in which 
help to the helpless had been preached, and hope to 
the hopeless had been displayed. 

The faith which sustained Noah, through the one 
hundred and twenty years’ probation and the horrors 
of the flood, continued to animate him in the new 
world. Limited as the number of animals in the ark 
was, from which all the earth had now to be sup¬ 
plied, Noah scrupled not to offer a sacrifice to the 
Lord, of every clean kind, out of the small number 


THE FLOOD. 


155 


preserved. ‘And the Lord smelled a sweet savour.’ 
If the Lord ever could have been pleased with the 
death of thousands of rams; or if Noah (in that in¬ 
fant state of an ignorant world) could have imagined 
so, surely there had been holocausts sufficient, when 
every thing that had life on the earth died. But 
Noah seems to have had a higher idea of the mean¬ 
ing of sacrifice ; and by making it the first act which 
the new world witnessed, he plainly taught, that it 
was by the altar, and the propitiation of the altar, 
which the whole world despised, that the new der¬ 
ation was to be preserved and saved. 

We see, then, in all the events attending the 
history of the flood ; in the previous preaching of 
Noah ; in the mode of escape ; in the nature of the 
punishment; and in the establishment of the puri¬ 
fied worship of God, in the renewed and cleansed 
world, that the truth of God, which the early race 
of mankind despised, is that which the Author of it 
ever guards with a watchful and a jealous eye. That 
truth which he protects, is that to which all creation 
is made subservient. Creation stands firm only 
while that truth is maintained ; and the elements, 
at the command of their Creator, either bear witness 
to the blessings, which the acknowledgment of it 
brings, or become his ministers to execute the judg¬ 
ment written against its perversion. 

A new morning dawns upon the earth—a morning 
ushered in by sacrifice. An altar is built, and a 
tabernacle (called in our translation, a tent) is 
reared, in which the chosen priest and prophet of 
God officiates. Thus, the perpetuation of that chain 


15C 


THE FLOOD. 


of evidence is provided for, which was to be perfected 
when Shiloh came; and the flood, which swept 
away mankind and all their works, leaves the hope 
of the promise uninjured, or rather strengthened. 
To assure man of the preservation of the world until 
the promise was fulfilled, the bow is placed in the 
heavens, accompanied by the covenant of God, that 
while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, 
summer and winter, shall not cease. 

By that covenant the world stood, until it wit¬ 
nessed the coming of Him, who took away the sin- 
offering by the sacrifice of Himself; and, by it, con¬ 
tinues to be preserved, 6 until the Gospel be preached 
to all nations, for a witness ; and then shall the end 
be.’ 


157 


CHAPTER XI. 

THE ONE LIP AND THE HEAVENLY 

TOWER. 

It is recorded, that, for some time after the deluge, 
all the earth was 4 of one language and of one speech/ 
Language and speech being the same thing, it must 
be evident, to every one, that this translation does 
not convey the meaning of the passage, there being 
no such thing as unnecessary repetition in the words 
of Scripture. The literal rendering is, 4 of one lip and 
of one words/ 

The researches we have already been engaged in, 
and the use made of the word 4 lip,’ to signify 
worship, in other passages of Scripture, make it un¬ 
necessary to enter into any lengthened discussion, to 
prove that the information given in this passage is, 
that, for a century or more after the flood, all the 
descendants of Noah continued to maintain the same 
form of worship, the same form of words in religious 
matters. We have merely to remind the reader of 
the proof, formerly given, of the necessity of a change, 
or novelty, in words, when there was any change in 
opinions. 


158 


THE ONE LIP AND 


That this 6 form of words/ was ‘ sound/ will 
appear evident from the following considerations. 
Being universal, it must have included the children 
of Shem, as well as the families of Ham and 
Japheth. Now, the Lord God was to dwell in the 
tents of Shem; not only in His incarnation, but 
because in them there was, at all times, to be a 
seed serving the Lord. Besides, the deluge, which 
bore testimony to the pure faith, was too recent an 
event to permit any open profession of departure 
from it,—any ‘lip/ or ‘ words,’ in opposition to it. 
A priest had been preserved to the new world, who 
took not that honour to himself, but was called of 
God as Aaron was; and the wrath of God had, too 
recently, been revealed from heaven, against all 
departures from Noah’s faith, to permit any renun¬ 
ciation of it to be openly expressed or favorably 
received. 

In such a state of the religious world, how could 
such a scheme, as that of the building of the Tower 
of Babel, have originated ? 

It seems almost unnecessary, before answering 
this question, to refute the childish idea, that man¬ 
kind combined together to build a tower, the top 
of which would touch the blue sky ;—or the scarcely 
less absurd suppositions, that it was meant as a place 
of refuge in case of another deluge, or intended for 
an astronomical observatory. Had mankind been 
as silly as the two first conjectures imply, or as 
much addicted to one branch of natural philosophy 
as the other notice suggests,— the top of Mount 
Ararat would have better suited their purpose. 


THE HEAVENLY TOWER. 


159 


These guesses respecting it are noticed, not as con¬ 
taining any thing worthy of refutation, but to call 
attention to the gross absurdity of many of the ideas 
entertained in youth, respecting events recorded in 
the Scriptures;—ideas fostered, in no small degree, 
by the prints, miscalled illustrations , which are often 
put into the Bible, to render it attractive to children ; 
and which, even in riper years, maintain a hold of the 
imagination, most destructive of any thing approach¬ 
ing to common sense, in judging of the employments 
and understanding of the ancients. 

Perhaps the ridiculous ideas regarding, and equally 
absurd attempts to delineate, the Tower of Babel, 
cannot meet with a better check, than by adverting 
to the simple fact, that the word translated 4 tower,’ 
means a large or magnificent building of any kind. 
The next step, in getting rid of idle fancies regarding 
it, is to observe, that the w T ord translated 4 top* 
means Origin, Beginning, Design, or Authority. 
Applied to the body, the word means head ; applied 
to a design, it means the object or intention of it. 
What was there, then, in the situation of Noah’s 
posterity, during the first and second centuries after 
the deluge, which could have led them to think of 
founding 4 a city and a magnificent building, the head 
of which was to be in the heavens —in other words, 
a Temple, with a city for the worshippers, claiming 
heavenly origin and design ? 

They were then, as we are told, and have been 
considering, all of one language. The ideas con¬ 
veyed by language, being intimately interwoven 
with heavenly or spiritual matters, and the roots 


160 


THE ONE LIP AND 


being immutable from which the words and ideas 
sprung, mankind would all, consequently, be of one 
way of speaking regarding heavenly things, while 
they continued that one language, in its purity, as 
they had received it from Noah. No schism had as 
yet overtly taken place amongst them. But they 
were now beginning, rapidly, to branch, or spread 
out, c from the east,’ or place of God’s worship 
(Noah’s altar). There was great danger that this 
emigration would lead to alterations and corruptions 
of the one lip, and consequently mar the unanimity 
which now prevailed. It seems, therefore, to have 
occurred to them, that a magnificent building, or 
temple, elucidating heavenly things, and professing 
to derive its authority, in such matters, from heaven 
itself, would form a centre to which the worship of 
the world might be directed ; so that it w~ould pre¬ 
serve them from ‘breakings,’ divisions, heresies or 
schisms, in religious matters, over all the world. 

There was one consideration, in particular, which 
would enforce their arguments in favour of such a 
design. The Edenic temple and its cherubim had 
been swept away. The figures which Noah had 
seen there, and of which he must have told them, 
were the great standard to which the opinions of 
men ought to have been brought, however much 
they were neglected, before the flood. It would, 
very probably, be said on the plain of Shinar, as 
men have ever been ready to say, 4 If we had lived 
in the days of our fathers, we would not have been 
partakers with them in their deeds/ If we had 
such wonderful figures remaining to us, there would 


THE HEAVENLY TOWER. 161 

be no fear of our departing from the truth as the old 
world did. 

Historical tradition, though in itself a very errino- 
guide, generally contains some glimpse of the truth : 
and its apparently absurd assertions do not uiifre- 
quently carry in them so much of the original 
facts, as to prove, from the very corruption of them, 
the nature of the things which have been perverted. 
All history and tradition agree in asserting that the 
top of the tower of Babel was dedicated either to 
the observation or the worship of the heavenly 
bodies. This prevailing, this unanimous attestation 
of the ancients, to a connection between the top 
of Babel and the hosts of heaven, is, to say the 
least of it, curious; ascertaining, as we have done, 
that the illustration of heavenly things was the de¬ 
sign of Babel. To suppose that mankind would all 
agree to worship the hosts of heaven, so soon after 
the deluge, is improbable in the highest degree; as 
much so as to imagine, that they would all combine 
in the cultivation of astronomy. But it certainly is 
remarkable, that the tradition should be so universal, 
and that it should be accompanied by a report, that 
the antediluvian elders were themselves greatly ad¬ 
dicted to the same study. 

The concurrent testimony of all antiquity and 
history on this matter, cannot in any way be ac¬ 
counted for so satisfactorily, as by the suggestions 
thrown out, in a former chapter, respecting the 
important nature of the truths preached by the hea¬ 
venly luminaries. We shall, afterwards, more clearly 
ascertain, than could be done in the previous stage 


1(52 


THE ONE LIP AND 


of out enquiry, that this ancient mode of reading 
the glory of God in the firmament, was not an 
invention of man. It was countenanced and referred 
to by the Spirit of God itself. Man corrupted it, 
as he has corrupted every mode of divine teaching. 
We shall not, here, advert to the astrological or 
astronomical traditions of Babel, further than to 
remind the reader, that, if the illustration and per¬ 
petuation of heavenly truth was the design of that 
building—which could only then have been done by 
means of figurative representation—and if the restor¬ 
ation of those signs, which had been given by God 
himself, formed any part of the design,—then the 
temple of Babel must have contained signs and figures 
corresponding, in many respects, with those which 
appeared in the visible heavens. 

We trace, then, in corrupted traditions, a corro¬ 
boration of the Scripture account; that, while man¬ 
kind all spoke the same thing, were perfectly of 
one mind, or in one profession of the truth, they 
formed the design of constructing a building, where 
the insignia which illustrated these truths should be 
pourtrayed, and a standard erected, that noncon¬ 
formity might be prevented, schisms avoided, and 
divisions of sentiment, in heavenly things, averted 
from the world. The scheme was an ingenious one; 
it would, but for the interposition of Heaven, have 
been a successful one; for God himself says, 4 No¬ 
thing would be restrained from them which they 
purposed to do,’ unless the hand of Heaven inter¬ 
posed. Why, then, should so feasible an under¬ 
taking have been defeated ? 


THE HEAVENLY TOWER. 


183 


It would be a sufficient answer to this question 
to say, because they had no authority from Heaven 
for any such scheme ; and Heaven never allows 
man to legislate for it. But the propriety, humanly 
speaking, of the interference, will be apparent, if 
we reflect, for a moment, on the monstrous power 
over the conscience of the world, which the success 
of the undertaking would have delegated to the 
priests of Babel. Even a section of the scheme, as 
we shall afterwards find, was attended with appal¬ 
ling consequences in that respect. What would it 
have been if the whole earth had unanimously carried 
through such a work ? It might have begun in 
truth ; it might have been founded on just prin¬ 
ciples :—would either truth or justice have withstood 
the temptations to lust, and power, and worldly 
intrigue, which the possession of such a name would 
have offered even to the builders themselves, to say 
nothing of their remote successors? We must be 
shallow observers of the history of man, if we could 
imagine such an establishment existing, without, in 
time, forming the nucleus of every corruption, and of 
the worst description of tyranny. 

The account given of the frustration of the design 
strongly corroborates the view now offered. The 
probability of success God himself declared to 
consist in their unanimity, both of purpose and of 
lip. c Behold the people is one, and they have all 
one language/ All, therefore, that divine wisdom 
sees requisite for impeding the work, is to mix or 
confuse that lip. Bishop Patrick gives a summary 
of the current guesses entertained of the nature of 


164 


THE ONE LIP AND 


this confusion, or 4 mixing of the lip/ at Babel, when 
he says, that it consisted merely in 4 varying the 
inflexions and terminations, as in different dialects, 
at the present day, of the same tongue/ But when 
was any important undertaking impeded by varieties 
of dialect or pronunciation? Does not the history 
of the world daily prove to us, that, wdien men are 
agreed in any scheme, differences of dialect or of 
tongue form no obstacle to their union ? The cause 
given by the Bishop is not commensurate with the 
effect. We must enquire for one more capable of 
producing effects of such vast influence on the history 
of mankind. 

As, in investigating into the nature of the build¬ 
ing, so, in enquiring into the cause of its frustration, 
the first step is to notice a mistranslation into which 
our translators have been led, by the confined view 
they took of the meaning of the word 4 lip/ They 
have put the decree for the hinderance of the work 
in these words : 4 Let us there confound their lan¬ 
guage, that they may not understand one another’s 
speech.’ We appeal to any Hebrew scholar, and 
to every lexicon, whether there be in the sentence 
any word that can be translated understand . There 
is not. The literal translation is, 4 Let us mix (or 
trouble) their lip, that a man shall not LISTEN to 
his neighbour’s lip.’ 

Here we have a totally different, and a much 
more satisfactory cause for their dispersion. They 
would not listen to one another; they would not 
hear ; in other words, they began to dispute; their 
lip was mixed; they no longer spoke the same 


THE HEAVENLY TOWER. 


1G5 


sentiments. 4 God divided their tongues’—there 
was 4 the strife of tongues within the city.’ When 
4 God puts it into the heart of any to fulfil his will,’ 
no mere difference of language ,—less still of 4 dia¬ 
lects/ 4 inflections/ and ‘terminations/—produce diffi¬ 
culty in the accomplishment of it. But when it is 
his purpose to scatter , a man does not require his 
neighbour to give new terminations to his words, in 
order that he may have an excuse for turning a deaf 
ear to him ! Experience teaches us every hour that 
there may be a Babel, and a determination not to 
listen to the lip of a neighbour, when there is no 
difference even of dialect amongst the speakers. 

The builders of Babel began with great cordiality 
and unanimity. They all acknowledged the impor¬ 
tance of the design; and they, probably, as in many 
other unions, entered into it with the most honest 
intention to sink all petty differences of opinion, 
all cavilling about trifles. Had the design been of 
God, the same unanimity which appeared at the 
commencement, would, as in the instances of the 
tabernacle and temple, have been maintained to the 
completion of the w*ork. They would have been 
4 hid as in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.’ 
But, destitute of the authority of Heaven, it wanted 
that blessing which alone can give stability to any 
undertaking. They had advanced considerably with 
the w T ork. The great building appears to have been 
reared ; for it was the city alone which it is said 
4 they left off to build.’ So long as the project 
existed but in theory, or so long as their attention 
was engaged by the progressive development of 


1G6 


THE ONE LIP AND 


new beauties in the great edifice, the oneness of lip 
and the readiness of ear continued. But there were 
points of discipline and of service to settle ; servants 
to appoint, family interests to be consulted, in appor¬ 
tioning and laying out the city; and then it was 
that Heaven saw meet to 4 divide their tongues in 
the city,’ and 4 they were broken into sects over all 
the earth/ 

In the religious character of the union at Babel, 
and the religious nature of their disputes, we begin 
to obtain a satisfactory key to the family likeness 
which subsists between all religious systems through¬ 
out the world; as well as to the various shades of 
difference, of form and opinion, which characterised 
them at their first scattering, or which afterwards 
arose, through the influence of climate, customs, 
and occupations. In the union at Babel, and in 
the disunion, we also observe some important pur¬ 
poses of Heaven most remarkably subserved. It 
was the determined purpose of Heaven to leave all 
nations, for a time, to choose their own ways; but 
it was also a part of that purpose, 4 in the fulness of 
time/ to summon the descendants of the early scat¬ 
tered nations to the bar of revelation; and to condemn 
them at that bar, of having 4 changed the truth of 
God into a lie/ so that 4 every mouth should be stop¬ 
ped and all the world become guilty before God.’ 

It cannot escape observation, that the bringing in 
afterwards of the verdict of guilty against the world, 
(as was done by the apostles) would have lost much 
of its force, if it could not be demonstrated from 
revelation, that mankind had , at one period, received 


THE HEAVENLY TOWER. 


167 


and acknowledged the truth of God. Else how 
could they be accused of having changed it ? How 
could it be said, when 4 they knew God they glorified 
him not as God?’ We see in this the reason for 
Divine Wisdom permitting mankind to advance so 
far with Babel; to give evidence, by this public 
union for a specific purpose, that there was a period 
when all mankind were at one on religious matters; 
when the faith of Shem was confessed in the taber¬ 
nacles of Japlieth, and acknowledged in the tents of 
Ham : when 4 all the earth was of one lip and of one 
form of words.’ 

If Heaven did not inadvertently (if the term can be 
used without profanity—the idea unfortunately is too 
common,) but purposely permit the progress of Babel 
to a certain point for this specific and important pur¬ 
pose, so much the more does the interposition against 
it appear fraught with design. Had mankind been 
permitted to remain at one, then, however numerous 
the signs and figures by which the promise was to be 
foreshadowed, however wonderful, something like 
connivance might have been presumed—something 
like a cunningly devised fable have been alleged. 
But when mankind were not only dispersed into 
corners, but dispersed under circumstances which 
indicated the commencement of vain contentions and 
strifes, of difference of opinion and lip: when they 
were all allowed, apparently, to go every length in 
corrupting the truth which had been delivered to 
them : yet, when the fulness of the time was come, 
and that truth was again manifested which they 
had corrupted—manifested differently, too, from what 


168 THE ONE LIP AND THE HEAVENLY TOWER. 

they all anticipated ; yet so manifested as to prove 
itself to be the very truth they had changed; mani¬ 
fested so as to verify the true signs delivered to them ; 
and to prove even their vilest customs and vainest 
superstitions to have been corruptions of that which 
now unveiled all their deformity,—the most wonder¬ 
ful evidence was, thereby, publicly afforded, that the 
manifestation had come forth from 4 the Lord of 
Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in 
working.’ 

In the following chapters, (under the general title 
of the 4 Path of the Just’ it is our purpose to follow 
briefly, in the records of the chosen people, the deve¬ 
lopment and corroboration of the true signs, by which, 
as we have seen, God instructed the fathers concern¬ 
ing his promises and purposes. Reverting, then, to 
the plain of Shinar, we shall endeavour to trace the 
corruptions of those signs which arose there, and 
their counterparts, or 4 resemblances in all the earth.’ 
And if, after that enquiry, we ascertain that a Book 
found its way to all nations, to the truth of which 
the very corruptions of the nations bore witness, we 
may indeed say that it came to them, and comes to 
us, with an authority at which the most sceptical 
may tremble. It brings assurance with it, that, as 
the truth concerning God himself, in very deed, 
dwelling with man on the earth, was, and is, the 
most important truth that ever was made known 
in heaven or on earth—so the testimony concerning 
it is accompanied by a body of evidence, such as 
attends no other fact of which the human mind is 
cognizable. 


16 * 9 


CHAPTER XII. 

PATH OF THE JUST. 

Ere proceeding to the enquiry proposed at the 
conclusion of the last chapter, it may be proper to 
notice, shortly, the origin of the people called 
Hebrews —that chosen race, to whom God revealed 
himself, as he did to no other nation under heaven ; 
among whose progeny the 4 path of the just’ was 
displayed, while the descendants of the other tribes, 
among whom the earth was divided, were left to 
choose their own ways. 

There occurs, soon after the account of the deluge, 
this singular genealogical note regarding that people. 

4 Unto Shem were sons born (he is the father of 
all the children of Eber, the brethren of Japheth the 
great).’ 

This early mention of 4 all the children of Eber, 
or Heber,’ distinctly points out the origin of the 
name of Hebrew, bestowed on Abraham and his 
descendants. Their close connection with Shem, 
alluded to in the note, must have been one of 'pro¬ 
fession , rather than of family (for Eber was not 


170 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


descended of Shem’s oldest son) ; which is confirmed 
by the meaning of the word Heber, a separatist. 
This was the peculiar mark and characteristic of all 
who were afterwards called Hebrews, or children of 
Heber; they were separatists ; they were 4 not num¬ 
bered with the nations/ 

As all the names, in the line of the promised seed, 
were either doctrinal or prophetic, it is remarkable 
that Eber, who lived about the period of the Babel 
union, should have had a name given to him expres¬ 
sive of separation; and still more so, that he should 
have called his son 4 Peleg (division), because in his 
days the earth was dividedas if he, prophetically, 
anticipated the division to which the Babel confede¬ 
racy would ultimately tend. 

But the respect in which the note appears chiefly 
entitled to our notice here is this; that, in the very 
sentence in which the separation of the chosen 
people, as descendants of Shem and Heber, is pro¬ 
phetically mentioned,—so great care should be taken 
to remind that people that they were brethren of the 
Japhethites, or Gentile nations. 

In this we see a very plain intimation that the 
separation of a peculiar people, in whom and to 
whom the promises were to be specially fulfilled, 
was a public act of God’s providence, for a well 
understood purpose; and that the call and separa¬ 
tion of Abram, for this end, was not an inexplicable 
proceeding at the time, nor the removal of a true 
worshipper away from an idolatrous people; but 
the setting apart of a family for the accomplishment 
of a generally anticipated design, in the fulfilment 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


171 


of which their brethren , the Japhethites, were as 
deeply interested as they were. 

Had Abram been called away from amongst 
idolaters, or corrupters of the true worship, he would 
not have been so anxious afterwards to procure from 
among them a wife for his son Isaac. God had 
hitherto, from the very beginning, chosen families, by 
whom the true worship was to be publicly observed 
and contended for. He now appears selecting pub¬ 
licly (‘ this thing was not done in a corner’) an indi¬ 
vidual, to whom more explicit promises were to be 
given, and by whom lessons in the faith were to be 
exhibited, for instruction in righteousness in every 
age. These instructions were just as interesting to 
the Japhethites as to the children of Eber. The 
Japhethites, by whom the Isles of the sea were 
peopled, were, like the prodigal son, taking their de¬ 
parture ; yet, ere they go, their participation in what 
was to be transacted in the family of Abraham, was 
secured to them, even by this early note in the genea¬ 
logical record. Their brotherhood with the Heberites 
was not for ever cut off by Abram’s separation. A 
time was afterwards to arrive, when those, who had 
been aliens from the promises, w T ere to be made 
fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household 
of God. The prodigal son was 4 to come to himself,’ 
through the preaching of the Apostles; to return, 
and seek his father’s face; and the father, who had 
never forgotten him, was to say, 4 It was meet we 
should make merry and be glad, for this my son w’as 
dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ 

When we proceed to trace, then, in the history of 


172 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


Abraham and his descendants, the mode by which 
God preached and illustrated his purposes to them, 
we must not think of these preachings as insulated 
and detached glimpses afforded them of some dark 
and mysterious matter, of which neither they nor those 
around them knew the object or meaning; but, 
rather, as 4 fearful things in righteousness,’ known 
and heard of throughout the world ; which not only 
proved that 4 the Lord God of Israel was God in 
heaven above and in the earth beneath,’ but which 
4 made the hearts of the people melt’ who heard of 
them. 

Thus, in reading of Abram going away, at the 
command of God, to a land which He was to shew 
him,—going out, not knowing whither he went,—-we 
see, in this, a great trial, as well as a strong indica¬ 
tion of his faith in something not seen. But even, 
before he went, 4 while he was still in Mesopotamia,’ 
the blessing was as publicly spoken as the call was 
publicly made,—for several of his relations accom¬ 
panied him. Abraham, then, and all who heard 
of the call might have been, and were, in great 
darkness, in respect to the place which he was 
afterwards to receive for an inheritance. His own 
faith, as well as that of his family and descendants, 
was greatly tried, while they sojourned in it, in 
tabernacles, and did not receive, during their lives, 
so much as to set their foot on; but they were in no 
doubt or darkness regarding the ultimate object of 
their separation. They looked for a city which hath 
foundations, and ‘they counted Him faithful who 
had promised.’ They met with many things to con- 


PATH OP TnE JUST. 


O 

t o 

firm them in this confidence in the Lord. The path 
of the just, in which they walked, was widened to 
them ; and it shone more and more unto the perfect 
day. But every new confirmation they got, was just 
a farther' illustration of what had preceded. Their 
faith had been early founded on an acquaintance 
with the character and works and promises of God ; 
and every trial of their faith issued in a confirmation 
of what they had learned and received. Abram no 
sooner reaches the promised land, than he rears an 
altar ,—evidence of his faith in the atonement. This 
was not the act of one beginning to be instructed in 
the doctrine of Christ, but of one who had e served 
him from his forefathers with pure conscience.’ He 
gives tithes to Melchisedek, — evidence that the 
Lord's portion was as well understood then as under 
the law’. He accounted that God was able to raise 
his son Isaac again from the dead;—an intimation 
that the doctrine of the resurrection was no new 
subject to Abram. He receives Isaac again from 
the dead '■in a figure ;—a proof that figurative teach¬ 
ing was a mode of instruction which, from previous 
education, he was fitted to understand. He desires 
anxiously to know,—not that he is to inherit the 
land, for that he is often assured of,—but how the 
inheritance is to be obtained; and ‘an horror of great 
darkness,’ attending the sacrifice of the very animals 
and birds afterwards ordered by the law, through the 
pieces of which ‘ a smoking furnace and a lamp of 
fire passed,’ was the remarkable figurative preaching 
by which his request is answered. He dies, without 
having obtained any portion in the promised land, 


174 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


save a burying 'place ;—the finest figurative preach¬ 
ing, as we shall afterwards find, of the hope of the 
resurrection, which is contained in all the Old Testa¬ 
ment scriptures. 

We have glanced at these few passages in the 
wonderful life of the father of the faithful, merely as 
specimens of the abundant proofs that might be 
brought, from the history of the wandering heirs of 
the promise, that their faith, which respected things 
not, seen as yet was founded on evidence regarding 
God and his gracious purposes; gathered from a 
previous acquaintance with the character and pro¬ 
ceedings of Him who is light, and in him is no 
darkness at all. So well founded, so clear were the 
views they entertained of Him, that they all died in 
faith, not having received the promises, but having 
seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them ! 

Having noticed these, both as establishing the 
continuous nature of God’s revelation, and the fieri- 
rative mode in which every new illustration and 
confirmation of His eternal purpose was made, we 
shall proceed to the more immediate object of our 
enquiry,—how far the signs employed, at first, to 
convey knowledge of Divine things, were continued 
in, and made instructive to, the seed of Israel ? 


CHAPTER XIII. 


(Path of the Just .) 

THE SHINING LIGHT. 

The sign or figure which first claims our attention, 
is that which stands connected, in the proverb, with 
4 the Path of the Just.’ That path is said to be like 
4 the Shining Light, which shines more and more 
unto the perfect day/ 

In the history of Abraham, which we have been 
considering,—and as much so, might it be observed 
in the histories of Isaac and of Jacob, we see ser¬ 
vants of the Lord placed in situations of great trial. 
Their minds were often darkened in regard to their 
present situation ; yet, in the midst of these trials 
of their faith, that faith stood firm. They looked 
forward, with hope and confidence, to a time when 
God was to dwell in the tents of Shem, and to 4 per¬ 
suade (literally open the door of faith to) Japheth,’ 
when there would be 4 a light to lighten the Gentiles, 
and the glory of his people Israel/ They saw this 
4 day of Christ,’ this dawning ‘afar off ’— 4 they saw it 
and were glad/ 


176 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


The nature of this 4 true light,’ its more private 
as well as more public manifestations, were preached 
to the descendants of Abraham in many divers ways. 
When they were in Egypt, and darkness that might 
be felt encompassed all that land, 4 the children of 
Israel had light in all their' dwellings.’ The Lord 
‘ put a difference between them and the Egyptians 
he 4 divided between the light and the darkness,’ as 
he did at the first. In both cases we see the exercise 
of the same prerogative, the same sovereignty; and 
when the True Light came in person into 4 spiritual 
Egypt, where he was crucified,’ we find him reveal¬ 
ing himself so to his disciples, in distinction from the 
world, that one of them said to him— 4 Lord, how is 
it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not 
unto the world V 

When that light, which illuminated the dwellings 
of the Israelites in Egypt, was concentrated in the 
Pillar of Fire, in the wilderness, the meaning of the 
figure was thus beautifully expounded, in a reference 
made to it afterwards by one of the worshippers,— 

4 0 send forth thy Light and thy Truth , let them be 
guides to me.’ That Pillar of the Truth was veiled 
in a cloud during the day: so when the day arrived 
that, He, whom it prefigured, descended , 4 he veiled 
his glory.’ During the night of the Old Testament 
church, the types and prophecies, respecting the 
Messiah, were like the light from the Pillar; and 
they all testified of a brighter light that was to arise. 
Yet, when the morning of the promise came, the 
light was veiled in a cloud, 4 the word was made 
flesh’— 4 he became a man of sorrows and acquainted 

3 


THE SHINING LIGHT. 


177 


with grief.’ But, even through that veil, 4 we beheld 
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the 
Father, full of grace and truth.’ In that very humi¬ 
liation lay the cause of the wonderful manifestation 
of glory which succeeded;—a ray from which, shining 
about Saul of Tarsus, was 4 above the brightness of 
the noon-day sun.’ 

When God expounded his laws to Moses, on the 
top of Mount Sinai, a ray of the Divine light, 
lingering on the countenance of Moses, indicated 
that he had been in the presence of Him who is 
4 the fountain of light and life.’ A veil was put 
over his face, which was taken away when he went 
in to speak with God, and was taken away from the 
reading of Moses when the True Light appeared. 
The light, therefore, that shone from the face of 
Moses, was a reflection from the presence of the 
Son of God upon the Mount; otherwise there would 
be neither beauty nor meaning in the fine argument 
which the Apostle Paul derives from the figure in 
2 Cor. iii. 

When the King, in Jeshurun, issued his lively 
oracles to Moses, or guided the councils of Israel, 
he shone forth from between the cherubim ; or re¬ 
sponded by the Urim and Thummim (lights and 
perfections) in the breastplate of the High Priest. 
This shining of the breastplate seems to be ex¬ 
pounded by Paul, when he says, that 4 by mani¬ 
festation of the truth, the Apostles commended 
themselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of 
God.’ This manifestation of the truth he imme¬ 
diately afterwards calls, ‘the light of the glorious 

N 


178 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God;’ and 
he sums up the exposition in this memorable saying, 
‘For God, who commanded the light to shine out of 
darkness, is he who hath shined in our hearts, with 
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in 
the face of Jesus Christ/ 

Lights were kept constantly burning in the taber¬ 
nacle and temple. These were, ‘ the seven lamps of 
fire,’ prefiguring, as they are explained in the 
Revelation, ‘ the seven Spirits of God sent forth 
into all the earth/ And as the testimony of that 
Spirit, during all the seven ages or periods of his 
church, has ever respected the truth, so the 
church of God, which maintains and upholds that 
truth, is compared to the candlestick which upheld 
the light. It is called, ‘ the pillar and stay of 

THE TRUTH/ 

These are a few of the ways in which the visible 
or material light was employed, at the time that all 
the constitution of the church was earthly, visible, 
and external, to illustrate the deep things of God; 
and these are a few, a very few of the references to 
them in the New Testament. Even from these few 
we may see, how greatly the New Testament wor¬ 
shippers are indebted to the material signs and 
ordinances of the Old Testament, not merely for the 
instruction in righteousness which they afford, but 
for a richness of imagery and illustration respecting 
heavenly things; which spiritual matters, without 
such figures, could never have been made intelligible 
to mortals. 

But while the Lord never left himself without a 

2 


THE SHINING LIGHT. 


170 


light or lamp in Israel,—never without a public 
testimony kept up by these material signs, in his 
professing church of old : yet the language of the 
inspired, among these worshippers, showed that they 
only looked at these signs as testifying ‘ of another 
day,’ 4 that day' so much spoken of by the pro¬ 
phets. Hence the interest they took in the signs, 
which the finger of God had implanted in heaven, 
to assure his people on earth, that he was not un¬ 
mindful of his promise. Hence the language of 
faith under the Old Testament was, 4 1 wait for the 
Lord; my soul doth wait, and in his word do I 
hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than 
they that watch for the morning: I say,’ for the 
figure was so beautiful, the Psalmist loved to dwell 
on it, 4 1 say, more than those that watch for the 
morning.’ What a fulfilment to the expectation of 
those who waited for the morning, was given, 4 very 
early in the morning, as it began to dawn towards 
the first day of the week !’ What an answer to the 
prayers of the Old Testament in these words, 4 He is 
not here. He is risen !’ 

It would form a volume of itself, to select all the 
passages of Scripture in which reference is made to 
the dawning of the day-star and the arising of the 
Sun of Righteousness; besides, the application of 
them to Him to whom all the prophets gave witness, 
is so undisputed, and we have so many less familiar 
figures to notice, that it would be occupying our 
limited space unnecessarily to dilate on such a 
subject. 

There is one passage, however, which cannot be 


180 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


omitted, while touching on such a subject. The 
sweet Psalmist of Israel, who had sung so often and 
so well of the hope of the morning of the resur¬ 
rection, is about to lie down in the dust; and these 
are his last words : ‘ The Ruler over men, the Just 
One, ruling in the fear of God, shall be as the light 
of the morning, even a morning without clouds : as 
the tender grass out of the earth ; as the clear 
shining after rain/ David, like Abraham, saw no 
prospect of the accomplishment of this to himself, 
in this world of sin and sorrow; therefore he adds, 

‘ although my house be not so with God,’ yet I am 
not disheartened: the covenant w T ith me looks be¬ 
yond this earth, it is c everlasting, ordered in every 
part and sure: for this is all my salvation and all 
my desire, though he make it not to grow —it may 
not spring forth here; but there is a morning coming, 
after the rain, after all storms are away, and the 
winter past and gone, when c thy sun shall no more 
go down, nor the moon withdraw her shining; for 
the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the 
days of thy mourning shall be ended.’ 

The hope of the dawning of the Sun of Righteous¬ 
ness, and the morning of the resurrection, influenced 
the Old Testament Church to set the New the ex¬ 
ample of 6 showing forth the loving kindness and 
mercy of the Lord in the morning/ But not only 
did the light of every new morning bring God’s 
mercy to remembrance; the periods when the sun 
entered his different chambers or divisions of the 
heavens—the rising of his harbinger, the morning- 
star—and many other appearances of the heavenly 


THE SHINING LIGHT. 


181 


luminaries were counted illustrative of the same 
memorial. The times, too, when the light of the 
new moon appeared, reflecting the splendour of the 
sun, were all of interest to them in a typical point 
of view. Hence the careful adaptation of their 
feasts, to the periods when there were new exhi¬ 
bitions, as it were, of light in the heavens; and the 
appearance of that light was always hailed with 

j°y- 

So intimately united, indeed, were the ideas of 
joy and light together, in their minds, that almost 
all the words in their language expressive of joy 
and gladness, were from the same roots with the 
words expressive of the emanation or bursting forth 
of light. The very stringed instruments they em¬ 
ployed had names derived from the same source. 
The word which signifies praise, means also to 
shoot forth like the beams of the sun ! and their 
sacred dance, in which joy and triumph were more 
rapturously expressed than in any other of their 
observances, was ordered so as to bear a marked 
allusion to the springing forth of light. Thus when 
they 4 praised him in the dance,’ they praised him 
by a figure which had an express reference to that 
time 4 when the lame man should leap like a hart 
and when they 4 praised him on an instrument of 
six strings,’ they praised him on a figurative em¬ 
blem, as its name implied, of the resurrection. 
Thus we find even the music of the Old Testament 
was figurative; and instruments introduced, not 
merely to assist the voices of the congregation, but 
to preach, by signs, the hope of that time, 4 when 


182 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


mourning shall be turned into dancing, and sackcloth 
into gladness.’ 

Although the meaning of all the splendid figu¬ 
rative applications of light, under the Old Testament, 
will only be fully understood at the 4 morning with¬ 
out clouds,’ when 4 they of the city shall spring up 
like the grass of the earth;’ yet a wonderful key 
was given to them when John the Baptist came, 
like the morning star, prefacing the appearance of 
the full orb of day. These manifestations 4 gave the 
knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins, 
through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the 
DAY SPRING from on high hath visited us : to 
give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the 
region and shadow of death: to guide our feet into 
the way of peace.’ 

Slightly as we have touched this most rich and 
interesting part of the Jewish Economy, or the 
spirit of it as developed in the New Testament, we 
have, we trust, adduced enough to prove, that so 
copious a use of the figure of light, in a ritual, in 
poetry, and in prophecy proceeding directly from 
heaven, and verified by God himself visiting man 
on the earth,—so apt an emblem, capable of such 
varied, such inexhaustible applications, could not 
have existed, if it had not been prepared by Divine 
Wisdom, for this purpose, when the ordinances of 
heaven were established. And, we may add, as 
the intimate connection between the language they 
used, and a figure so variously and effectively intro¬ 
duced, subsisted from the first, and lay at the very 
toot and origin of the sacred speech, so we are war- 


THE SHINING LIGHT. 


183 


ranted in considering that, from Adam to Christ, the 
same figure was illustrative of the same hope, and 
would preach the Gospel as intelligibly to Noah as 
it did to David. 


184 


CHAPTER XIV. 

(Path of the Just.) 

THE BRANCH. 

A passage, quoted in the preceding chapter, is 
accompanied by a marginal reading, in the English 
translation of the Bible, which will account for 
what may at first appear, from the title of this chap¬ 
ter, a sudden transition from one subject to another 
of a very different nature. The passage referred to, 
is from the words of Zecharias ; who, in anticipating 
the coming of the Messiah, says, 4 whereby the day 
spring from on high hath visited us/ The margin, 
instead of day spring , renders it 4 the branch.’ 
This choice between two words, apparently so 
dissimilar, arises from a peculiarity in the sacred 
language, briefly adverted to in a former chapter, to 
which, and some of its applications, we must now 
revert. 

It was then noticed, that the elements of language 
sprung from verbs , expressive of the great opera¬ 
tions of nature; and that, when it was desired to 
represent, hieroglyphically, such operations, some 


THE BRANCH. 


185 


object or objects in nature were chosen, the proper¬ 
ties, or appearances, or names of which, identified 
them in some manner or other with the action, or 
thing, which was to be represented or explained. 
Thus, although the springing forth of light could not 
be represented, there were natural objects which 
shot forth like the light, and they seem to have 
been chosen to represent it. We do not mean to 
affirm that this was the only reason for such objects 
being chosen; it might have been owing to some¬ 
thing, in the name or nature of them, connected 
with some power or property in the language, now 
unknown to us; but, from whatever cause it arose, 
there were certain natural objects chosen, to re¬ 
present the emanation of light, and, hence, natu¬ 
rally, to symbolize that of which light itself was a 
figure. 

Amongst the objects chosen to symbolize light 
and its antitypes, those most frequently used were 
branches of trees and shrubs; (which, as well as the 
light, were said to spring ;) rods or staffs formed of 
those branches; and horns, probably from their 
springing or shooting forth like branches. 

Respect seems to have been had to the nature or 
appearances of the trees, from which the branches 
were taken, according to the doctrine to be taught, 
the feeling or emotion to be described. Those 
which drooped or bent towards the earth, were used 
as emblems of death or sorrow—of darkness or 
hiding of the light: those which shot upwards, of 
joy and life. There was also, as already frequently 
noticed, something in their names, and qualities as 


186 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


expressed by these names, which in some w T ay, inex¬ 
plicable to us, but evidently well understood by the 
wise-hearted of old, rendered the instruction con¬ 
veyed by them peculiarly forcible. Thus, when 
Solomon is said to have ‘ spoken of trees, from the 
cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop which springeth on 
the wall/ w r e are not to understand merely that he 
was a botanist; but that he was instructed, and was 
able to instruct, in the parabolic use of all those 
objects. Hence the amazing number of his para¬ 
bles, of wdiich only a small portion have come 
down to us in the book of Proverbs. 

The emblematic, figurative, or prophetic use of 
trees, under the Old Testament dispensation, cannot 
be better illustrated than by one passage in the 
Prophets, where the coming of the Holy and Just 
One is spoken of. At that time, the Prophet says, 
‘ the oil of joy was to be given for mourning, the 
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that 
they might be called trees of righteousness, the 
planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified 
and he concludes his ecstatic reference to that 
period in these words : ‘For as the earth bringeth 
forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things 
that are sown in it to spring forth , so the Lord God 
will cause Righteousness and Praise to spring forth 
before all nations.’ 

Seeing from this, and a thousand other passages 
which might be quoted, that the figurative and 
emblematical uses of trees, begun in the garden 
of Eden, was continued in the after ages of the 
church; and seeing, that by them was expressed, 


THE BRANCH. 


187 


hieroglyphically and metaphorically, the hope of 
life, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from 
the dead,—we are left at no loss as to the mean¬ 
ing of the introduction of branches of trees, on occa¬ 
sions of rejoicing; but, above all, their introduction 
at those set periods, or feasts, which preached, or 
foreshowed, ‘the times of the restitution of all things, 
which God hath promised by the mouth of all his 
prophets since the world began.’ These feasts were 
figurative, so were the branches which were then 
carried aloft. Each bore its own beautiful allusion ; 
and if we are not satisfied with the assurances of the 
prophets, that those allusions were to the springing 
forth of righteousness and praise, at the morning of 
the resurrection, we may look back to the ark resting 
on Mount Ararat; and think whether Noah, when 
he beheld the dove, bringing an olive branch in her 
mouth from the new world, would not read something, 
in that touching and beautiful figure, of amazing 
meaning and comfort to those who had been ‘buried’ 
in such ‘ a baptism,’ and were now awaking, as it 
were, to newness of life. 

We observe, also, from this beautiful use of the 
branch, as an emblem of the light of the Gospel, and 
of the peace on earth, good will towards man, which 
it was expected to bring,—why branches were carried 
by ambassadors and messengers of peace; and why 
they were borne as emblems of victory and symbols 
of salvation. 

As branches were emblematical of ‘ light and life, 
and joy and peace,’ so the rod or staff, formed of 
them, retained the same meaning, and often repre- 


188 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


sented the Word of God, from which all life and 
hope proceeds. 4 Jacob, when he was a-dying, 
bowed himself on the top of his staff ; acknowledg¬ 
ing the support which the Word of God had been to 
him in all his wanderings, and the hope of the resur¬ 
rection, of which the staff was a sign. David leant 
on the same staff, when he looked forward to passing 
through the valley of the shadow of death : 4 thy rod 
and thy staff they comfort me.’ The rods of Moses 
and Aaron wrought miracles, symbolical of those 
wonders which the Word of God performs. Aarons 
dry rod 4 budded and brought forth almondsfigu¬ 
rative of the fruit which was to spring from Him 
who was prophesied as 4 the branch;’ who appeared 
as a 4 root out of the dry groundbut 4 the rod of 
whose strength was to shoot forth out of Zion, ren¬ 
dering the wilderness a fruitful field/ 

There was also a very curious connection between 
the w’ords or phrases, expressive of shooting forth, 
and those w’ords which meant to instruct, which 
gave wonderful effect to some of the uses of these 
emblems. The word which signifies to govern, means 
also to teach by parables . When the rod or sceptre 
was placed in the hand of a king, it not only intima¬ 
ted that he was to guide his people in the way of 
peace, but that he was their instructor as well as 
their ruler. Those kings who sat on the typical 
throne of the Messiah, were constantly reminded, by 
the sceptre which they held, that their office was 
typical. The sceptre intimated something yet to 
spring forth, which it was their duty to instruct 
their people in,—even the coming of that king, 4 the 


THE BRANCH. 


189 


sceptre of whose kingdom was to be a sceptre of 
righteousness, and the sceptre (literally, the instruc¬ 
tion concerning the hope of light and life) was not to 
depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his 
feet, until Shiloh (the Irradiator, the Shiner Forth) 
came, and unto him the gathering of the people was 
to be.’ 

Even at the court of Ahasuerus we may learn 
something of the instruction which the sceptre con¬ 
veyed. 4 All the king’s servants and the people of the 
king’s provinces do know, that whosoever, whether 
man or woman, shall come unto the king, into the 
inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his 
to put him to death ; except such to whom the king 
shall hold out the golden sceptre , that he may live.’ 
If we read tyranny in the first part of this decree, 
there is surely the finest figure of that which may be 
called 4 sovereign mercy’ in the holding out of that 
which denoted, by its very name, Mercy and Peace ! 

Nearly the same figurative ideas and lessons, that 
were conveyed by the branch and the sceptre, were 
included in the hieroglyph of the horn. The root 
from which the word 4 horn’ is derived, means to emit 
or send forth beams of light, to rejoice, and to be 
exalted. Hence horns were figurative not only of 
power, but of the shooting forth or preaching of 
good news. When the Prophet, therefore, is de¬ 
scribing the coming of Him who brought life and 
immortality to light, he spake of Him as having 
4 horns coming out of his hands.’ 

The great subject of the prophecy of old, being 
the triumph of the light and truth of God over all 


190 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


its enemies, we see it referred to in such figurative 
expressions as these : ‘ in my name shall his horn be 
exalted/ ‘my horn shalt thou exalt like the unicorn/ 
‘ his righteousness endureth for ever : his horn shall 
be exalted with honour/ ‘all the horns of the wicked 
will I cut off/ All pretensions to this truth — all 
false lights and doctrines — shall be put out; ‘ but 
the horns of the righteous shall be exalted/ And in 
allusion to the triumph and power of the Gospel, 
among the Gentile nations, it is prophesied of Him 
who was to be separated from his brethren, ‘ his 
horns are like the horns of an unicorn; with them he 
shall push the people together from the ends of the 
earth ; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim/ 
(Ephraim meaning literally, ‘ the fulness of the 
Gentiles/) 

Horns and branches, being emblems of this glorious 
irradiation, or shining forth of truth, were placed 
around the heads of those who typified Him ‘ whose 
countenance shone as the sun/ Of the same irradia¬ 
tion the spiceB or pikes of the crown were figurative. 
Thus the glorified church, which is to arise like the 
light on the morning of the resurrection, is to be ‘ a 
royal diadem in the hand of her God/ 

As all these emblems prefigured the power and 
influence of the light of the Gospel, so the flowers 
and fruits with which they were often accompanied, 
typified the effects of that Gospel, and the peace¬ 
able fruits of righteousness. Hence, when the pro¬ 
phet anticipates the time, when ‘ the branch of the 
Lord should be beautiful and glorious/ he says, ‘ the 
fruit of the earth shall then be excellent and comely/ 


THE BRANCH. 


191 


Looking at the earthly temple as figurative of the 
heavenly, we hence understand why palm trees, open¬ 
ing flowers (opening to the day), knops of flowers, 
and pomegranates were the decorations of it; and 
why a pomegranate should have been placed between 
each of the bells, in the hem of the garment of the 
high priest; those bells which gave forth ‘the joyful 
sound,’ as he was heard entering the holy place. 

In these few references to one class of the hiero¬ 
glyphics, by which the hope of the promise was 
illustrated to the Old Testament worshippers, we 
have just a few of the inexhaustible store of proofs, 
which might be adduced from the Scriptures, that 
the language which God gave for perpetuating the 
memory of his covenant, and for keeping alive the 
hope of the promise, was, at the first, so connected 
with the natural objects with which creation was 
stored, as to fit them for aiding and illustrating each 
other in the most important, the most heavenly pur¬ 
pose, to which they could be applied. 


192 


CHAPTER XV. 

{Path of the Just.) 

THE DOUBLE. 

It is very generally thought that, although the Jews 
and other ancient nations had the hope and expec¬ 
tation of a Messiah, and of many blessings that were 
to attend his advent—yet that their ideas with re¬ 
gard to the nature of these blessings, in particular 
in respect to the hope of eternal life, through Him, 
were of a very vague and indeterminate nature. 

Of all the mistakes respecting the opinions of 
those who 4 saw the promises afar off, and embraced 
them , and confessed that they were strangers and 
pilgrims on the earth’—this is the most melancholy 
and the most absurd. We trust it is scarcely neces¬ 
sary to enter on a systematic proof of the absurdity 
of it, to those who have given due consideration to 
the subjects we have already had under investi¬ 
gation. But, as we have, particularly in the two 
preceding chapters, directed attention to the exist¬ 
ence and copious use of figures indicating the hope 
of a bright and a glorious period, rather than to 


THE DOUBLE. 


193 


the time and mode of its fulfilment, it may not be 
unacceptable to trace these more closely. We do 
so the more readily, as the enquiry will lead to the 
consideration of another metaphor, borrowed from 
a phenomenon of nature, frequently used in the 
Old Testament, which is as beautiful as it is con¬ 
clusive, respecting the nature of the ancient hope 
of the Scriptures. 

The first circumstance which must arrest the 
attention of every impartial enquirer into this mat¬ 
ter is, the persuasion, nay, the certainty, which 
seemed in the minds of those who lived 4 by faith/ 
that the glorious things hoped for, and looked for¬ 
ward to, were not to be fulfilled to them in this life. 
Abraham never could have expected to live to see 
his seed 4 as the sand which is by the sea shore 
innumerable.’ Joseph said, 4 1 die, but God shall 
surely visit you.’ David, on his death bed, was as 
full of the expectation respecting 4 his Son and 
Lord’ as he was in his youth. Can the most pre¬ 
judiced reader of the histories of these men seriously 
believe that they took so much interest in a matter 
in which they icere not personally to share ? 

Did we know nothing more, then, of their faith 
and hope, than that it respected something to be 
accomplished after they were in their graves, we 
have sufficient evidence that they knew the promises 
in Christ to have an aspect beyond death and the 
grave. 

But, it may be said, that the passages we have 
alluded to, in their histories, and in their sayings, 
merely indicate that they knew of the immortality 

o 


194 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


of the soul; and that we may suppose, from these 
passages, although it is little more than supposition, 
that they had some faint ideas respecting a world of 
spirits—a heaven, to which their souls would go, 
and where the trials of this life would be compen¬ 
sated for by eternal happiness. 

We appeal to the understanding of men , whether 
all their acts do not, much more distinctly, indicate 
a hope of something future . If they merely had 
some vague ideas about the immortality of the soul, 
in what respect could a distant event, to be trans¬ 
acted on this earth , have been of so much interest 
to them ? Their whole conduct manifested an ex¬ 
pectation of having a participation in the joy and 
gladness which the springing forth of the light was 
aftemcards to produce; a participation they could 
not have had, if their spirits were never again to be 
re-united to their bodies. Yea, much more than a 
vague idea, on this subject, do their acts and sayings 
testify: they testify that it w’as made known to 
them, that, out of the grave, life w r as to arise. Thus 
it was to ‘the resurrection of the just,’ the twelve 
tribes instantly serving God day and night hoped 
to come. 

‘ The rising from the dead,’ first of the Pro¬ 
pitiation himself, and then of the people, was preached 
to the fathers in many divers ways. The ascension 
of the smoke of the sacrifice to heaven, was one of 
the proofs of its acceptance. Abraham received his 
son Isaac (the figurative propitiation) again from 
the dead in a figure. The light, the unceasing 
witness and figure of Him who w T as to come, rose 


THE DOUBLE. 


195 


out of darkness. Many of their ceremonies and 
customs indicated plainly, that distress, sorrow, and 
death were to precede the rising of the light of life 
out of obscurity. At certain periods of darkness, 
the whole nation was plunged in sorrow and clothed 
in sackcloth, which was changed into tumultuous 
joy when the light re-appeared; and branches and 
other figurative emblems of the Shiloh (the Branch, 
the Irradiator) were then held aloft, preaching, as 
plainly as signs could do, His deliverance from 
death ! while the participation of all the people, in 
the joy as well as sorrow on these occasions, in¬ 
dicated their hope of a share in the resurrection, as 
certainly as they were to participate in the death. 
Pillars, rising out of the earth (emblems of the 
resurrection), were placed over graves. Trees, shrubs, 
and flowers, also emblematic of the same thing, 
w’ere placed over them. 

In these, and a thousand other figurative ways, 
the hope of the resurrection was taught of old. 
But there was one metaphor in particular, borrowed 
from a phenomenon in nature, which entered into 
the composition of many words in the ancient lan¬ 
guage, and expressed, perhaps more distinctly than 
any other, the precise nature of their expectation 
concerning the life to come. 

The phenomenon to which we refer, is the change 
which is seen to take place on some creatures 
which pass into a torpid state, ere ‘ renewing their 
youth/ and re-appearing in greater beauty and 
splendour. This is seen, the most conspicuously, 
in the worm passing into the state of chrysalis: 


196 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


re-appearing in plumage, 4 covered with silver and 
feathers of yellow gold,’ and winging its way toward 
heaven. 

From this beautiful and expressive picture , af¬ 
forded, in nature, of the resurrection, there are 
many words and forms of expression borrowed in 
the primitive language; by which the ancients de¬ 
scribed the nature of the changes which man’s body 
undergoes, and is to undergo ; just as distinctly as 
Paul, when he says, 4 it is sown in dishonour, it is 
raised in power : it is sown a natural body, it is 
raised a spiritual body.’ 

Job describes these changes. The first change 
is, 4 Thou changest the countenance of man, and 
sendest him away.’ This is the execution of the 
sentence, 4 dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt 
return.’ But he says, after this first change has 
taken place, 4 0 ! that thou wouldest hide me in the 
grave , that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy 
wrath be past; that thou wouldest appoint me a set 
time (there) and remember me (in the grave). 
Though a man die, yet shall he live. All the days 
of my appointed time (the set time in the grave) 
will I wait, till my change come.’ 

We must here notice, that the word expressive 
of this second change, is quite different from the 
word denoting the first change or sending away. 
The second change means a renewing , a turning 
bach again , a sprouting. It is the very word used 
in the 7th verse of the same chapter, where he says, 
4 there is hope of a tree, though it be cut down, that 
it will sprout again’ And that the change he was 


THE DOUBLE. 


197 


looking forward to, and was to wait for in the grave, 
was the resurrection of the body, is put beyond doubt, 
by what follows, ‘ Then thou shalt call and I will 
answer thee/ Was ever the hope concerning c the 
voice of the archangel and the trump of God,’ 
more clearly expressed than it is here? Were the 
views of this man vague or undefined, or were the 
people for whom his history was written uninformed 
on the subject of the resurrection, when such a 
declaration as this was recorded—‘ I know that my 
Redeemer livetli, and that he shall stand on the 
earth in the latter days ; and though, after my de¬ 
cease, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I 
shall see the Lord ; whom I shall see for myself and 
not another V 

This change and re-change — this doubling up 
and unfolding again, is beautifully described in one 
of the psalms : ‘ Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast 
laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens 
are the works of thy hands; they shall perish, but 
thou shalt endure, yea all of them shall wax old 
like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change 
them (the first change, admirably translated by the 
Apostle, 4 as a vesture shalt thou fold them up) 
and they shall be changed,’ —the second change, 
the w?ifolding from the weakness of old age to new¬ 
ness of life. In another psalm he describes the 
awaking from this 4 folding up 4 1 shall be satisfied 
when I awake with thy likeness.’ 

It is delightful, on turning from David to Moses, 
to find that great prophet refuting, in two words, the 
eight volumes written to prove he knew nothing of 


198 


PATH OF TIIE JUST. 


the resurrection. After setting forth the eternity 
and godhead of Adonai, the Lord Jesus Christ, in 
the 90th psalm, (which is a prayer of Moses, the 
man of God,) he says 4 thou turnest man to destruc¬ 
tion,’ (the first change;) 4 again, thou sayest, RE- 
turn, ye children of men.’ How, or when ? 4 Be¬ 

cause a thousand years are in thy sight but as 
yesterday when it is passed.’ Beautifully is this 
return from the grave commented on by an apostle 
long afterwards, in these words, ‘Beloved, be not 
ignorant of one thing, that one day is with the 
Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as 
one day: the Lord is not slack concerning his 
promise / "What promise ? His second coming, 
when 4 those who sleep in Jesus will God bring 
with him and although 4 we shall not all die, we 
Shall all BE CHANGED.’ 

It is truly refreshing, that, even in a translation, 
it was not possible to destroy the antithesis in the 
prayer of Moses, above quoted, between the turn 
and the return. It stands, even in our English 
Bibles, a majestic and dignified reproof from the 
prophet, like to whom there arose not another in 
Israel—a reproof addressed to all who can imagine 
that he, who spake face to face with the Prince of 
Life, as a man speaketh to his friend—that he who 
penned so large a portion of inspiration, should have 
been ignorant of that for which Revelation was given 
—the hope of the Resurrection. 

Yea, Moses would have been inexcusable indeed, 
if he could have penned what he did, respecting, 
not merely Enoch, but Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and 


THE DOUBLE. 


190 


Joseph, and yet have remained in ignorance of the 
only thing that could explain their conduct —the hope 
of rising from the dead. 

To Abraham it was said, ‘ the land which thou 
seest, to thee will I give it/ Abraham knew well 
he was not to get it in this life. What did he do ? 
He bought , carefully bought and secured to himself 
and his family, a burying place in it. 

It may be said, that, if Abraham had been 
properly instructed in the doctrine of the resurrec¬ 
tion, he would have known that if he was to inherit 
that land at the resurrection, God could accomplish 
his promise to him wherever his body was laid. 
True. But Abraham was a preacher of righteous¬ 
ness, as well as Noah—a public preacher. By what 
public act could Abraham have shown his belief, 
that the promise would be made good to him at the 
resurrection, so well or so distinctly, as by pur¬ 
chasing a right of burial in the land to himself and 
his family ? 

But to place the meaning of what he did beyond 
a doubt, observe the name of the burial place, 
Machpelah , the unfolding or doubling back 
again. We should really think that any descendant 
of Abraham, who doubted the hope which Abraham 
preached when he purchased Machpelah, may have 
been a fleshly son, but could scarcely have had 
4 like precious faith’ with his ancestor. How his 
immediate believing descendants understood it, is 
evident, from Jacob’s words to his sons, ‘and he 
charged them, and said unto them, I am to be 
gathered to my people ; bury me with my fathers in 


200 


PATII OF THE JUST. 


the cave that is in the field of Ephron, the Hittite; 
in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which 
is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which 
Abraham bought with the field of Ephron, the 
Hittite, for a possession of a burying place. There 
they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they 
buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I 
buried Leah/ It is observable, that as Jacob could 
not bury Rachel in Machpelah, he placed a pillar, 
the emblem of the resurrection, over the grave. 

Joseph was a partaker of the same faith, and 
preached the same hope. His only anxiety on his 
death bed was, that his bones should rest in Mach¬ 
pelah, 4 and he took an oath of the children of Israel, 
saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry 
my bones up from hence/ 

The hope of the unfolding again to glory after 
being sown in dishonour—this double change— 
explains some passages in the prophets which are 
otherwise dark. In one passage it is said, 4 Comfort 
ye, comfort ye, my people, speak to the heart of 
Jerusalem—say to her, that her sins are pardoned, 
that her warfare is accomplished, for she has received 
of the Lord’s hand double for all her iniquities/ To 
suppose that this means, she had been punished 
doubly by Him who dealeth not with us according 
to our transgressions, is to put very unusual language 
into the mouth of a prophet of the Lord. The idea 
conveyed in the original is, 4 she had received of the 
Lord’s hand a doubling up of all her transgressions’ 
—an action expressive of that folding up so as to 
hide and obliterate stains, which shall not re-appear 


TIIE DOUBLE. 


201 


when the double or second change takes place—at 
that time 4 when the iniquity of Jacob shall be sought 
for and shall not be found / 

There are many other passages of similar import; 
such as, ‘ For your shame, ye shall have double , and 
for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion : 
therefore, in their land they shall possess the double , 
everlasting joy shall be unto them/ It must be evi¬ 
dent, even from this imperfect translation, that in 
this quotation the period of 4 the double’ or second 
change was expected at the resurrection. In the 
original, to which no translation could do justice, 
it is, in every case where the expressions occur, so 
clear, as to put the hope of the ancient people of God 
in the rising from the dead beyond all question. 

It is manifest, then, from the figures, from the 
types, from the metaphorical as well as the explicit 
language of the Old Testament, that the resurrec¬ 
tion of the just, through the rising of the Messiah 
from the dead, was the hope which animated and 
supported the patriarchs, priests, and prophets of 
old. This hope was neither vaguely nor darkly 
expressed. If it appear to us to have been but 
seldom brought forward, it is only because the 
language we use cannot convey to us, in a transla¬ 
tion, the force of the similitudes by which it was 
preached. 4 O my people, I will open your graves ;* 
4 after three days I shall raise you up ; 4 together 
with my dead body shall they ariseare sayings, 
which, if we could enter fully into the spirit and 
meaning of the sacred language and its figures, we 
should find re-echoed in all their preachings, illus- 


202 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


trated and enforced in all their worship. The hope 
therein expressed is the key to all their customs ; 
without it their actions appear irrational, their words 
idle sounds, and their ceremonies superstition the 
most degrading. Take it away, and the Scriptures 
become a dead letter; — restore it, and we see them 
‘ THE ORACLES OF LIFE !’ 


I 


| 



203 


CIIAPTER XVI. 

(Path of the Just.) 

THE BURNING BUSH. 

When the Church of God obtained, for a typical 
purpose, an earthly inheritance, and became a nation 
of priests, all their service consisted in carnal ordi¬ 
nances ;—the weapons of their warfare were carnal, 
and the 4 meats and drinks’ of the sanctuary minis¬ 
tered to the wants of the body, while the typical 
intention of them cheered and invigorated the 
mind. 

Among the institutions of the sanctuary, the 
cherubim held a distinguished place. In conformity 
with the rest of the decorations, they were of man’s 
workmanship : they were made out of the same 
piece of gold that formed the mercy seat. Yet, even 
although so framed, they appeared in the midst of 
fire, when God inhabited them and spoke from the 
schechinah. This appearance of fire around them 
was visible, as formerly noticed, at Eden, and in the 
spiritual visions of Ezekiel. 

A few remarks on the meaning of that fiery 


204 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


appearance, is the design of this chapter, prepara¬ 
tory to a closer investigation of the figures which it 
enveloped. 

There were three different operations and develop¬ 
ments of the light recognised in the ancient theology 
and philosophy. The first was the shining forth or 
emanation of the light, as from the sun. The second, 
the hidden or secret pervasion of that heat through 
all nature. The third, its concentration and develop¬ 
ment again, in the form of flame. 

The first we have already largely referred to. As 
it prefigured the emanation of life, from Him who is 
the Fountain Head of Light and Life, so the other 
operations were looked upon as illustrating the 
effects of his Word, which is truth itself. The 
lat, or hidden effect, (whence the Latin lateo, the 
English latent , &c.) was considered illustrative of 
the inward or secret operations of the Word of God ; 
and was sometimes designated by words signifying 
to vivify, to comfort, &c. The concentration of this 
hidden heat, and manifestation as fire or flame, was 
connected rather with words applicable to purification 
or testing, as of metals in a furnace. 

The connexion between all these operations and 
expressions, as applied to natural things, indicated an 
early and a perfect acquaintance with that universal 
distribution and operation of the electric fluid through¬ 
out nature, which is again beginning to be made the 
basis of scientific knowledge and research. Such a 
circumstance cannot be passed, without noticing the 
tribute, so unconsciously paid, to the philosophy of 
the Scriptures; the attestation so forcibly given to 


THE BURNING BUSH. 


205 


the words of Solomon, that 4 there is nothing new 
under the sun/ 

The connexion between the same operations, as 
explanatory of spiritual matters, gave also great 
simplicity and force to the illustrations it afforded. 
As light was the emblem of truth, so all the other 
operations were the effects of that truth. The truth 
of God shone forth; it also vivified and comforted 
inwardly, and worked unseen by man ; and even 
when it came forth as fire, to purify, to test, and to 
consume, it was still the same truth. Thus God 
is a 4 God of Love,’ and the 4 God of all Peace; 
but he is also 4 a Consuming Fire/ These charac¬ 
ters and attributes are one and the same. In his 
truth his love is seen. The same truth gives that 
peace which the world cannot take away. The 
same truth consumes every thing 'perishable which it 
reaches. The God of Truth never varies, never 
appears under different characters. He and his 
word are always the same. The truth which 
quickens is the truth which purifies. The Judge of 
all the Earth makes the truth which he dissemi¬ 
nates as the light, the test by which his judgment 
is to proceed. 

We observe in this another instance of the pecu¬ 
liar aptness of all God’s creations to illustrate the 
great truth contained in his revelations. We behold 
in this another confirmation of what has been ad¬ 
vanced, that creation was made, as we see it, that 
it might illustrate the invisible things of God. 

The fire, being looked upon as figurative of the 
searching and purifying nature of the truth of God, 


206 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


explains the remarkable question and answer of the 
prophet, 4 Who among us shall dwell with the de¬ 
vouring fire ? Who among us shall dwell with ever¬ 
lasting burnings ? He that walketh in righteousness 
and speaketh uprightness.’ Righteousness, even the 
righteousness of God ; truth, even the truth of God, 
can alone stand the test of that fire which is 
righteousness and truth itself. When that fire de¬ 
scended and consumed the sacrifice, it taught two 
important lessons. It taught that the fire was to 
come down on the sacrifice, instead of coming 
down on the head of the guilty worshipper ; while 
the consumption of the sacrifice shewed that a 
better offering was required to stand the devouring 
fire. That offering was found, when the Son of 
God was led as a lamb to the slaughter. When the 
fire took hold of him, under which he expired on 
the cross, it declared him to be the Substitute looked 
for and required. But 4 his righteousness it sus¬ 
tained him.’ He came out unhurt from the ordeal. 
Death had no power over him ; 4 it was not possible 
that he could be holden of it.’ His death mani¬ 
fested him to be the 4 Chosen One/ the true sub¬ 
stitute on which sin was to be visited : his resur¬ 
rection declared him the Eternal and Unchangeable 
Truth and Word of God. 

Fire was also used of old to denote trials and 
afflictions; but these were trials connected with the 
truth. Even in the New Testament, since the fire 
visited the substitute, there is a 4 fiery trial’ spoken 
of; but it is called 4 the trial of your faith , being 
much more precious than of gold which perisheth, 

2 


THE BURNING BUSH. 


207 


may be found unto honour and glory and praise, 
at the appearing of our God and Saviour Jesus 
Christ.’ 

When Moses is about to be sent to Egypt, where 
the people of God were 4 in the furnace’ of afflic¬ 
tion, he is led to the back of Horeb, and there he 
sees 4 a bush burning with fire, yet not consumed.’ 
He 4 turns aside to see this great sight, how the 
bush was not consumed ’; and he finds the cause of 
it to be that God was in the bush. He is thus 
instructed how the church and people of Israel 
were to be preserved in all their wanderings and 
trials, in that very mountain; because 4 the Lord 
was to be in the bush 4 the Lord her God was fto 
be with her, and the shout of her king in the midst 
of herd 

When Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego were 
cast into the fiery furnace, they were, to the asto¬ 
nishment of the king and his courtiers, seen walking 
in the midst of the fire, unhurt. The cause is ex¬ 
plained, just as it was to Moses at Sinai: 4 the form 
of the fourth walking with them in the fire, was the 
form of the Son of God.’ 

Wherever the Son of God and his truth are found, 
that fire is innocuous ; but the same fire which 
preserves the truth and purifies its worshippers, 
burns up all the enemies to that truth, as it did 
those who cast the three children into the flames. 

We see, then, why the Cherubim, which repre¬ 
sented the Truth of God and the body professing it, 
are described as being 4 in the midst of the involving 
fire.’ 4 The words of the Lord are pure words: as 


208 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven 
times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord : thou shalt 
preserve him—every one of them, from this genera¬ 
tion.’ Yea, even in times when 4 the vilest of the 
sons of men are exalted,’ and infidelity lifts up her 
voice 4 on every side.’ 

Ere we close this chapter, let us look back to the 
east of Eden, and picture to ourselves the scene 
thete, on any of the appointed days on which offer¬ 
ings were brought to the presence of the God who 
appeared dwelling between the Cherubim. 

We see a family bringing a lamb for a burnt- 
offering. The heads of that family are still trem¬ 
bling under the divine displeasure. A curse has 
been pronounced on them, and they are uncertain 
when or how the death, which that curse bore, 
would come dowm on their guilty heads. They are 
coming into the presence of the God they have 
offended, whose presence is denoted by the involv¬ 
ing fire, and they know not but it may be a bolt from 
that very fire which is to execute upon them the 
judgment recorded. They lay the bleeding victim 
upon the altar, and the lightning which they feared, 
and which might justly have struck them, consumes 
the innocent and unoffending lamb. The name of 
that lamb is a substitute. They are thus relieved in 
their consciences; being taught that the fire of divine 
justice is to be turned aside to an innocent substi¬ 
tute ; while the promise, respecting the seed of the 
woman, plainly directs them to him, as the Lamb 
which God was to provide to himself as a burnt- 
offering. 


THE BURNING BUSH. 


209 


But a very wonderful object now attracts their 
attention. In the midst of the fire, a single spark 
from which would strike them dead, and the power 
of which on the substitute they have just witnessed, 
in the midst of that fire they see living creatures 
moving up and down; not only uninjured, but hav¬ 
ing voices, and ‘ resting not day nor night, saying, 
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and 
is, and is to come.’ 

Let the reader, who has duly weighed the reasons, 
formerly assigned, for considering the Cherubim at 
Eden, in the tabernacle, the temple, and in the 
visions of Ezekiel and John, to have been the same 
—let him picture to himself such an appearance 
meeting the eyes of Adam—and then try to persuade 
himself that such would be unmeaning symbols to 
Him who had given names to the forms of which 
it was composed! 

Adam and his sons must have understood them 
well. By us, who can only obtain an imperfect 
key to the language which explained them, they 
can only be but faintly appreciated. Yet the de¬ 
scriptions of them, and the references to them, in 
the Bible, are so explicit, as containing in figure 
that which constituted the glory of the Old Testa¬ 
ment Church, that we are encouraged, under that 
title, to enquire more particularly into the nature of 
the instruction conveyed by them. 


p 


210 


CHAPTER XVII. 

(Path of the Just.) 

THE GLORY. 

In the preceding, as well as in the 6th chapter, 
some circumstances were stated, which seemed to 
authorise us to consider the Cherubim as a hierogly- 
phical representation of the Truth, and of the body, 
the Church, which maintains it. We purpose exa¬ 
mining these authorities more closely in this chapter. 
In doing so, it is not our purpose to offer a critical 
translation of the hieroglyphics; for the language 
which contained the key to them has lain too long- 
dormant to permit access, in all cases, to the primi¬ 
tive ideas from which it sprung. We purpose, there¬ 
fore, merely to advert to some circumstances, in 
addition to those formerly noticed, which seem to 
justify the view then taken of the truths contained, 
or preached, in the Cherubic emblems; and to adduce 
other references and uses of the figures which incon- 

n 

testably prove them to have been symbolical of the 
glorified body of Christ—the Church. 

The Cherubim are denominated, by Paul, 4 the 

4 


THE GLORY. 


211 


Cherubim of Glory' This title is very appropriate, 
for they were called 4 TnE glory’ of the Old Tes¬ 
tament church. When the ark, on which they 
rested, was taken by the Philistines, 4 Ichabod— the 
Glory is departed,’ was the cry in Israel. When the 
Psalmist is celebrating under the type of Christ, his 
deliverance from suffering, he uses, on more occasions 
than one, a phrase, which receives great elucidation 
by applying it to the Cherubic representation of his 
glorified body. In one place he says, that his mourn¬ 
ing is to be turned into joy, 4 to the end that the 
Glory may sing praise unto thee, and never be silent! 
Accordingly the Cherubim are described as 4 resting 
not day nor night’ ‘giving glory, honour, and thanks 
to him that sat on the throne.’ On another occasion 
he says, 4 therefore my heart is glad, and my Glory 
rejoiceth:’ and, again, we find him calling on the 
glorified body to give thanks, in these terms—‘Awake 
up, my Glory!' Ezekiel expressly calls the Cherubim 
4 the appearance of the glory of the Lord.’ 

As 4 the Glory of God was to be made great in 
his salvation,’ we may expect to find that Salvation 
declared, or preached, in any figurative representa¬ 
tion to which the name of Glory is applied in this 
manner; as well as to recognise, in that same repre¬ 
sentation, a fit emblem of the saved or glorified body. 

Accordingly, the first and most striking combina¬ 
tion in the Cherubim, is a Lion and a Man on the 
right side. The phrase used by the Apostle Paul, 
4 the fulness of the Godhead bodily,’ is almost a 
literal translation of this combination of figures: 
tantamount, as formerly noticed, to another expres- 


212 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


sion of the same writer, 4 God manifested in the 
flesh.’ 

The Eagle, 4 the winged messenger of heaven,’ 
had an evident aspect to ‘the ministration of angels:’ 
and it is impossible to quote these words, 4 seen of 
angels,’ which form part of the Mystery of Godliness, 
without calling to remembrance the expression, 
4 eagle-eyed,’ borrowed in modern language from the 
same hieroglyphic. 

That the Ox was figurative of the preaching and 
spread of the Gospel, is manifest from many passages. 
The power of the Gospel in gathering the multitudes 
of the nations together, has already been noticed, as 
having been prophesied of by Moses under the figure 
of ‘horns;’ in a passage wherein it is remarkable that 
this expression should occur, 4 His glory is the first¬ 
ling of his bullock.’ Thus, 4 preached unto the 
Gentiles, and believed on in the world,’ was a part of 
the mystery of godliness under the Old Testament as 
well as under the New ; and Paul does not scruple 
to apply the figurative language respecting the Oxen 
of old, to himself and his fellow-workmen, who ‘trod 
out the corn,’ or rightly divided the word of truth. 
Thus, in the prayer of the psalmist, for the prosperity 
of the Church, it is petitioned that 4 our oxen may 
be strong for work.’ 

Wings were the hieroglyph of the Spirit. When 
the Spirit came down and ‘abode’ on the Son of 
God, it was 4 in a bodily shape like a dove and 
when the ark, which was overshadowed by the 
wings of the cherubim, is addressed in the 68th 
Psalm, it is in these words: 4 Though ye have lien 


THE GLORY. 


213 


among the pots, ye wings of a dove , covered with 
silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.’ These 
wings not only overshadowed the mercy seat, but 
they 4 stretched upwardsthe figure of Ascension. 

Under the wings there was the hand of a man; 
the figure universally used, throughout the Scriptures, 
for help or salvation. 4 The arms of his hands were 
made strong by the mighty God of Jacob/ 4 The 
Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the sight of all 
nations: and all ends of the earth have seen the sal¬ 
vation of our God/ 4 Let his hands be sufficient for 
him, and be thou a help from his enemies/ 4 Let thy 
hand rest on the Man of thy right hand / 

These few references will bring many others to 
mind, in which the figures seen in the Cherubim are 
used, throughout the Scriptures, to illustrate the 
Mystery of Godliness, or the Salvation of our God. 

As that salvation was the glory of the church, 
so the church, maintaining it, was the glory of Christ. 
So intimate was the union, that the same figure 
described both. The church of Christ was ever 
known by her doctrine : that doctrine was her 
Banner. When the Banner which the God of Israel 
gave to his Old Testament church was displayed, 
THE TRUTH was seen emblazoned on it; even 
that Truth which constitutes also the banner of the 
New Testament church; the banner under which the 
Apostles fought, as they breathed forth this prayer, 
4 Now thanks be to God, who always causeth us to 
triumph in Christ; and maketh manifest , or displays, 
the savour of his knowledge by us in every place/ 

The twelve Apostles are the leaders or chiefs 


214 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


of the New Testament church. The twelve princes 
of the tribes were the leaders or chiefs of the Old 
Testament. Each of these princes and their tribes 
encamped under his own banner. In the manner 

OF THEIR ENCAMPMENT, THE HIEROGLYPHICS EM¬ 
BLAZONED ON THEIR BANNERS COMBINED TO FORM 

THE CHERUBIM ; so that the cherubic 
figures, THE GREAT MYSTERY OF GOD¬ 
LINESS, FORMED THE BANNER UNDER WHICH 
the Old Testament church fought the wars 
of the Lord. 

The following programme of the encampment of 
the Israelites in the Wilderness will show this :—- 


NORTH. 

DAN. NAPHTALI. 

Banner. i_, 

AN EAGLE. » 

Q 

Hr* 

> 


N 

m 

w 

<3 

tr* 

O 

A MAN. ^ 

Banner. 

REUBEN. SIMEON. 

SOUTH. 


Here we have the four-sided compact body, the 


THE 

TABERNACLE. 


a 

r g 

O « 


tj > 


ASHER 


•"*5 

w 

PQ 


£ 

« 

Pi 

w 


g o 


z 

< 


S 

w 

co 

CO 

£ 


GAD. 



THE GLORY. 


215 


same as the cherubim are described; with the same 
figures, and with the tribes on the wings of the 
encampment, corresponding with the outstretched 
wings of the cherubim. With this coincidence, which 
no man of a sane mind can consider accidental, we 
cannot now hesitate for a moment to say that the 
Cherubim were figurative representations of the 
church, in which God dwells; in the same manner 
as he dwelt in the tabernacle, in the midst of the 
tribes of Israel. And as the church was always 
known by her doctrine, these cherubic figures repre¬ 
sent, not only the body, the church, ‘ the one new 
man,’ 4 the perfect man, or complete body,’ 4 the 
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christbut 
they also represent the Doctrine of Salvation, 
under which and for which she contends ; in allusion 
to which she says, 4 We will rejoice in THY SAL¬ 
VATION, in the name of our God we will set up 
THE BANNERS !’ 

In the hieroglyphic use of the combination of 
figures called the Cherubim, in Eden, in the Taber¬ 
nacle, and in the Temple, w T e see 4 the Beauty of the 
Lord, or his truth in his sanctuary,’ like himself, 
always the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever; 
and in them forming the Banner under wdiich the 
Old Testament church 4 wrought righteousness,’ and 
4 subdued kingdoms,’ we have a most wonderful 
attestation, by figure, to that truth for which, under 
the New Testament, as w r ell as under the Old, they 
4 jeopardied their lives unto the death.’ 

We Gentiles 4 in the outer court’ have heard 4 the 
sound of the wings of the Cherubim’ 4 like the noise 


216 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, as the 
voice of speech;—for the doctrine preached by the 
Cherubim has come into all the world, 4 not as the 
word of man, but, as it is in truth, the word of the 
living God, which is able to make wise unto Salva¬ 
tion/ We have, indeed, the very words or speech of 
4 the church, which is his body, the fulness of him 
who filleth all in all;’ in the words recorded by 
John in the Revelation, to be uttered by the four 
living creatures ; when they give glory, honour, and 
thanks to Him who sitteth on the throne—when they 
sing the new song, 4 Thou wast slain, and hast 
redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every 
kindred, tongue, and people, and nation; and hast 
made us to our God kings and priests, and we shall 
reign on the earth/ And, as if always on the watch—- 
the eyes ever awake—resting not day nor night— 
even when John himself continues the ascription in 
these words, ‘ Blessing, honour, and glory, and power 
be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, to the 
Lamb for ever and ever,’ the four living creatures 
instantly respond, 4 Amen !’ 

Thus it is to be in the church, as well as by the 
church, that 4 the manifold wisdom of God’ is to be 
seen. When he comes again, he is 4 to be glori¬ 
fied in his saints, and admired in all them that 
believe/ The puzzling or hard question has always 
been, how it was possible, consistently with God’s 
ineffable attributes of holiness and justice, that sin 
could be pardoned, or 4 mercy rejoice over judgment/ 
The answer to this will, at last, be seen and 
4 admired in his glorified body,’ when he presents it 


THE GLORY. 


217 


4 a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or 
any such thing.’ The figure, therefore, which repre¬ 
sented that body, and which showed hoie its purifica¬ 
tion, 4 even as if tried by fire,’ was to be accomplished, 
was called 4 his glory,’ 4 the sum of wisdom, and 
perfect in beauty.’ 

Considering these representations as summing up 
the 4 wisdom of God in a mystery/ or figure, there 
seems great propriety and meaning, when the seals 
are about to be removed from the book of prophecy 
in the presence of the apostle John, that each of 
these living creatures should alternately invite him to 
4 come and see.’ 

We cannot close this chapter without noticing a 
circumstance which seems to indicate, in the early 
ages of the Christian Church, an appreciation of the 
cherubic figures in the point of view in which they 
have now been presented to our reader. 

In the oldest figures or representations of the four 
Evangelists (copied, without knowing the reason, in 
the more modern), Matthew is accompanied by the 
Man , Mark by the Lion , Luke by the Ox , and John 
b y the Eagle. When it is remembered that the 
leading subject with Matthew is the incarnation of 
the Son of God, and the literal fulfilment of the 
prophecies in the events that befel him ;—that Mark 
dwells particularly on the poicer of his word in his 
miracles and doctrine;—that Luke narrates at greater 
length than either what was of peculiar import to 
the Gentiles (to whom the hieroglyph of the Ox per¬ 
tained)—and that the never-failing theme of John is 
love and the influence of the Spirit (the wings of the 


218 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


Eagle)—there is certainly something more than either 
curious or accidental in this appropriation of the 
cherubic figures. 

Thus the declaration of the Truth is still under 
the same Banners ! 


219 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

(Path of the Just .) 

THE STARS IN TIIEIR COURSES. 

The expression selected for the title of this chapter 
occurs in the triumphal song of Deborah and Barak, 
on occasion of the destruction of Sisera, Jabin’s 
general. In the loftiness of her exultation, Deborah 
exclaims, 4 They fought from Heaven ! The stars in 
their courses fought against Sisera !’ This is one of 
the many singular allusions to the heavenly bodies, 
throughout the Old Testament, some of which have 
been already noticed, and none of which can be 
explained satisfactorily, save on the principles con¬ 
tended for in a former chapter. Those principles 
may be summed up in this, that the ancient people 
of God were instructed to trace in the heavens the 
prophetic purposes of God. Every objection to this 
is silenced by one fact , were there no other to cor¬ 
roborate it. Balaam prophesied of 4 a star to arise 
in Jacob and when the Saviour was born, 4 wise 
men came, saying, We have seen his star in the east, 
and are come to worship him : and, lo ! the star 


220 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


which they had seen, went and stood over where the 
young child was !’ Scepticism and infidelity must 
overturn the authority of the word of God, ere they 
can eradicate this amazing attestation to the truth of 
God, prophesied of and fulfilled in the heavens. 

We cannot now trace distinctly, neither is it 
necessary, how the speech of the firmament was 
read. We formerly stated the grounds for believing 
that it was by the hieroglyphical representations, 
implanted there at the first by the finger of God ; 
who thereby declared that his purposes were from 
everlasting, c settled as a faithful witness in heaven.' 
We shall now proceed to notice some other circum¬ 
stances corroborative of this doctrine. 

In the preceding chapter it w 7 as ascertained that 
the four principal standards of the Israelitish church 
formed the Cherubim. All the tribes, as well as 
these four, had standards; what they w r ere is mat¬ 
ter of historical record, on the part of those who 
could have no reasons for mistaking it. Historical 
tradition is of little importance, save when corro¬ 
borated by Scripture; but it is, surely, to say the 
least of it, a most interesting circumstance, when 
we find Jacob on his death-bed, and Moses when 
about to ascend the mountain where he was to 
die, telling the children of Israel prophetically, what 
was to happen to them in the latter days ;— telling 
them this, in language having several references to 
their standards; which standards corresponded with 
twelve signs arrayed in the heavens by the hand of 
God himself! We shall quote some of these pas¬ 
sages without note or comment ; leaving it to the 


THE STARS IN THEIR COURSES. 


221 


reader to judge how far there is reason to trace allu¬ 
sions to the signs, as well as standards, in them. 

4 Reuben, my first-born, unstable as water.' 

4 Simeon and Levi, brethren ,’ 

4 Judah is a lions whelp/ 

4 Dan, a scorpion in the path.’ 

4 Joseph’s bow abode in strength.’ 

4 Joseph’s glory, the firstling of his bullock / 

If it were necessary to examine critically the 
4 blessings’ from which the above are quoted, and to 
compare the original with the zodiac of Dendera 
and other ancient monuments, we should find the 
coincidences and references to be much more nume¬ 
rous and explicit. Our object, however, is not to 
prove what signs were actually referred to, or what 
the signs were, or what the interpretation, but to 
establish a general reference to them in the word of 
prophecy. 

Connected with this part of our subject, it may 
be noticed, that the stones on the breastplate of the 
High Priest were arranged according to the encamp¬ 
ment of the children of Israel; corresponding also 
with the precious stones forming the twelve founda¬ 
tions and the twelve gates of the Holy City, seen in 
the vision of St. John. In the midst of the precious 
stones on the breastplate, and corresponding with the 
situation of the Tabernacle and Schechinah (or shining 
of God’s glory) in the midst of the tribes,—the Urim 
and Thummim (Lights and Perfections) were placed. 
The following extracts from Jewish writers, relative 
to the standards and precious stones, are too curious 
to be omitted 


222 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


In Jonathan’s Targum this passage occurs : 4 The 
standard of Judah was of linen, of three colours, 
answering to the three precious stones in the breast¬ 
plate, viz. a chalcedony, sapphire, and sardonyx. 
In it, surrounding the Lion, the names of the three 
tribes, Judah, Issachar, and Zabulon, were engraved 
or expressed; and in the midst thereof was written, 
4 Rise up, Lord, let thine enemies be scattered; let 
them that hate thee flee before thee/ Chazkuni 
gives the following account of the other tribes: ‘The 
portraiture of a Man was upon Reuben’s standard, 
dyed after the colour of the sardine, set in the 
breastplate; and his name, with the sign of his 
mandrakes which he found, which are so called 
from their likeness to a man. The portraiture of a 
Lion was on Judah’s standard, dyed in the colour of 
a chalcedony, agreeable to his father’s prophecy 
concerning the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The 
figure of a Bullock, or Ox, was on Ephraim’s stand¬ 
ard, dyed in his colour on the breastplate, a beryl; 
and this agreeable to Moses’ blessing. The figure 
of an Eagle was dyed into the colour of a hyacinth 
on Dan’s standard.’ 4 So the Ensigns’ Aben Ezra 
says, 4 were like the Cherubim ichich Ezekiel saw’ 

It cannot but be deemed a very curious coinci¬ 
dence, that the light, or schechinah, should appear 
in the tabernacle from between the cherubic figures : 
that the same light, and the pillar of fire, should 
have been in the midst of standards having the 
cherubic figures portrayed on them ; that the Sun 
should have had his tabernacle or course in heaven 
through figures of the same kind ; that the Lights 


THE STARS IN THEIR COURSES. 


223 


and Perfections of the breastplate should have been 
in the midst of precious stones corresponding with 
the twelve tribes, and having their names engraved 
on them; that the light of the Holy City, New 
Jerusalem, should be described 4 as of a stone most 
precious, even as a jasper stone, clear as crystal;’ 
and that the light should be in the midst, there again, 
of other precious stones, twelve in number, having 
the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb ! 

Let the reader connect with these circumstances 
the dream of Joseph, formerly noticed, in which the 
eleven constellations bowed down to the twelfth; 
and that these were interpreted to mean himself and 
his eleven brethren, the ensigns of whose families 
were as above described, and he will be constrained 
to own that all this coincidence cannot be accidental. 
It will suggest to him, also, a remarkable meaning in 
Deborah’s words, 4 the stars in their courses fought 
against Sisera.’ 

It is cited, in the Psalms, as one of the greatest 
instances of Divine power, that God 4 telleth the 
number of the stars, he calleth them all by names 
and this is immediately followed by the declaration, 
‘ Great is our Lord, and of great power, his under¬ 
standing is unsearchable.’ If it were merely meant 
that God gave names to the heavenly bodies, there 
are many more inscrutable acts of his power in na¬ 
ture than this. But when it is told to Daniel that, 
at the resurrection 4 they that be wise shall shine as 
the brightness of the firmament, and the multitude 
that are turned to righteousness, as the stars for ever 
and ever;’ when an apostle says, 4 there is one 


224 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, 
and another glory of the stars—for one star differeth 
from another star in glory— so also is the resurrec¬ 
tion of the dead ; and when we see the Sun of 
Righteousness himself, 4 holding the seven stars in his 
right hand,’—there seems to be more than a mere 
illustrative use, — there is evidently a symbolical 
allusion to them, in all such passages. The number¬ 
ing, ordering, arranging, and naming the stars at first, 
so that they might serve for signs, or be significant 
of the numbering, gathering, or enrolling of the 
heavenly church, is the only key to that repeated 
reference to them throughout the Scriptures, which is 
summed up in an inscription of praise to 

4 Him that by wisdom made the Heavens ! 

4 For His mercy endureth for ever!’ 

Looking at the ordinances of heaven, as framed 
and set in order for a purpose so sublime, what force 
and meaning is given to the passages, adduced in a 
former chapter, respecting the declaration of the 
glory of God in the firmament—night unto night 
showing forth knowledge of his salvation ;—to that 
reference also in the 8th psalm, 4 Jehovah our Adonai, 
how excellent ( adir , the root of our word adore') is 
thy name in all the earth, who hast set (placed, 
ordered) thy glory in and around the heavens. As 
I look to thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the 
moon and the stars which thou hast rightly ordered, 
(arranged and settled according to a previous design 
in respect to something future , see Taylors Hebrew 
Concordance,) what is man, that thou art thus mind¬ 
ful of him; the son of man, that thus thou visitest 
him V 


THE STARS IN THEIR COURSES. 


225 


Again, take, with this key, such passages in the 
prophets as the following: 4 Have ye not known ? 
have ye not heard ? hath it not been told you from 
the beginning ? have ye not understood from the 
foundations of the earth ? It is He that sitteth upon 
the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are 
as grasshoppers : that stretcheth out the heavens as 
a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tabernacle of 
rest to dwell in.’ 4 Seek Him that maketh the seven 
stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death 
into the morning, and maketh the day dark with 
night.’ 

Turning from the prophets, which abound with 
such passages, to Job, who is so often instructed 
out of the book of the firmament; how dark to us 
are such lessons as the following, yet how expressive 
and clear must they have been to him, or to any one 
who understood the interpretation of the metaphors : 

4 Canst thou lead Mazzcroth (the twelve signs); canst 
thou guide Arcturus and his sons V That there were 
testimonies, figures, or parables in these signs, who 
can doubt that reads this appeal to him ? 4 Who 

commandeth the sun and it shineth not, and by THE 
TESTIMONY of the STARS teacheth them: who 
alone spreadeth out the heavens, and t.readeth upon 
the waves of the sea : who maketh Arcturus, Pleia¬ 
des, and the chambers of the south : who doeth great 
things past finding out; yea, and winders without 
number.’ 

The wonderful works of God, in the heavens above 
as well as in the earth beneath, w T ere employed, then, 
as figurative instructors by the Spirit of God, under 

Q 


226 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


the Old Testament. They were so used, not only 
under the Mosaic economy, but that use was evidently 
a continuation, a following up, or application of, the 
symbols prepared for that purpose 4 from the founda¬ 
tion of the earth/ It was one of the 4 divers manners 
in which God of old spake unto the fathers/ and 
bore testimony to the words of his servants the 
prophets. It was a figurative mode of instruction, 
often adopted by the Spirit of God speaking by the 
prophets; followed by the Apostles ; and sanctioned 
and explained by the Great Apostle and High Priest 
of the Christian profession, in the revelation of the 
Old Testament figures and hieroglyphics, which he 
made to his servant John ; 4 who bare record of the 
Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, 
and of all things that he saw.’ Had that metaphori¬ 
cal use of the signs of heaven been confined merely to 
illustrations, drawn from their beauty or number, we 
might have been content with the current opinion, 
that they were alluded to in the Scriptures because 
they happened to offer very pretty allegories and a 
popular mode of instruction. But unless we yield 
to the impious idea, that the metaphors used by the 
Lord himself and his servants were borrowed from 
the superstitions of the world, we must seek a much 
higher source for the introduction into the church of 
God of old, and into the Scriptures of truth, of such 
amazing figurative coincidences and references, con¬ 
nected with the signs of heaven, as we have found 
there. We have seen the hieroglyphic figures per¬ 
taining to them, introduced into the earthly sanctuary, 
and shining in the visions of the heavenly holy place. 


THE STARS IN THEIR COURSES. 227 

Not only are the 4 four living creatures* there, but 
4 the Lion of the tribe of Judah’ is introduced. The 
seven stars are beheld in the right hand of Him ‘whose 
countenance was as the sun shining in his strength.’ 
The same glorious person gives the promise of 4 the 
Morning Star.’ A woman appears, clothed with the 
sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head 4 a 
crown of twelve stars.’ These can be no fortuitous, 
no borrowed, no accidental allusions. The wonder¬ 
ful Councillor who reveals these mysteries or figures, 
is He who at the first 4 made great lights: the sun to 
rule (instruct) by day; the moon and stars to rule 
(instruct) by night; for his mercy endureth for ever.’ 
Did the Maker and Former of these things so array 
them, so constitute, so order, and so divide them, 
without any regard to the use he himself was to 
make of them, to teach man 4 the mysteries of the 
kingdom of heaven V Nay, their adaptation to HIS 
truths is the proof that 4 our God made the heavens' 
4 Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for a light 
by day, the ordinances of the moon and stars for a 
light by night; who divideth the sea when the waves 
thereof roar : the Lord of Hosts is his name : if those 
ordinances depart from me, saith the Lord, the 
seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation 
before me for ever.’ 


228 


CHAPTER XIX. 

(Path of the Just.) 

THE KNOWLEDGE OF WITTY 
INVENTIONS. 

We have now glanced at the most prominent les¬ 
sons in the Divine Economy, taught by means of 
figures, implanted in and around the creation when 
it was first called into existence; lessons begun to 
Adam; continued in the patriarchal line; inter¬ 
woven into the veil of the law; and constituting an 
important part of prophetic metaphor. Ere pro¬ 
ceeding to enquire into the use made of the same 
symbols and symbolical mode of teaching, by the 
nations which were left to choose their own ways; 
there is a branch of ancient teaching, a room in the 
schools of the prophets, to which we would wish to 
pay a short visit, ere turning from that chosen 
people, to whom God revealed himself as he did to 
no other nation under heaven. The lessons to which 
we allude, are intimately connected with the subject 
we have been considering ; although rather a branch 
from them, than constituting an integral part of the 
same mode of teaching. 


THE KNOWLEDGE OP WITTY INVENTIONS. 229 


I he parables or figures we have hitherto been 
considering, are those borrowed immediately from 
natural phenomena : the branch to which we now 
turn for a little, sprung out of them ; and took the 
form of dark sayings, enigmas, riddles, or, in the 
words of the proverb from which the title to this 
chapter is quoted—witty inventions. For this kind 
of knowledge Solomon was greatly celebrated, for 
4 he spake three thousand proverbs, and his songs 
were a thousand and five.’ 

The Queen of the South came from the uttermost 
parts of the earth, to hear this wisdom of Solomon, 
and to put 4 hard questions to him. To suppose 
that she came to put unmeaning riddles or mysticisms 
to him, and that she went away, on receiving an 
answer to them, like a child pleased with a new toy, 
is really to reduce the Bible itself to a level with the 
profane prints, with which it is so often trammelled, 
and by which the ideas of youth, respecting the 
grandest subjects which were ever discussed amongst 
men, are in many cases irrecoverably debased. There 
were hard questions then in the heart (for the Queen 
of Sheba communed with Solomon of all that was in 
her heart') ; there were riddles then, as there are 
now , which many, overlooking the answers which 
the Book they have in their hands gives, often, in 
secret, wish one would rise from the dead to expound 
to them ! The philosopher, to whom the admiring 
eyes of the world are turned, while he has been tracing 
the operations of millions of years in the bowels of 
the earth, or has been dilating on the countless 
myriads of worlds which filled the universe, ere yet 


230 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


this little speck in the universe, the earth, was created, 
—even lie , when he retires to his closet and shuts 
his doors about him, or when he communes with his 
own heart on his bed, has hard questions , which the 
world never hears of, which he would be ashamed to 
own, but which he would go to the uttermost parts 
of the earth to get an answer to ! 

The wisdom with which Solomon was so highly 
favoured, and which he celebrates so much in his 
writings, was, 4 the wisdom which dwells with sah- 
tilty , and finds out the knowledge of witty inventions / 
The idea at the root of the word translated 4 witty 
inventions,’ is that of a line or cord tightly knotted ; 
while the word translated 4 prudence,’ on the margin 
4 subtilty,’ is the state or condition of a person braced 
to an arduous undertaking — having his eyes on the 
alert, or, as Solomon expresses it, 4 in his head,’ and 
his body unincumbered. 

These images depict the state and situation of a 
wise and prudent man at any time, but more especi¬ 
ally under the Old Covenant, or expectant dispensa¬ 
tion. There was then a Gordian knot to be untied, 
a riddle to be resolved. Until the great Zaplmath 
Paaneah, or Revealer of Secrets, came, every kind of 
knowledge had a figurative or expectant character. 
Sometimes it took the form of what is translated a 
sign, that is, a thing progressing or going forward to 
a future development: a figure, a matter to be laid 
open : a wonder, something out of the course of 
nature, for future elucidation: an ordinance, a 
witness to a future event: a line, a stretching for¬ 
ward in hope : a proverb, a figurative instructor: 


THE KNOWLEDGE OF WITTY INVENTIONS. 231 

A RIDDLE, a hard saying, or a dark question, the 
unfolding of which is to give joy. These are the 
ideas at the roots of all the words, used, at that 
period, to convey instruction. They all had a pros¬ 
pective aspect; all a dark present, with a future 
brightness or elucidation. We cannot now, from their 
language having been so long dead, see the force or 
beauty of many of their divine sentences;—so well 
4 understand a proverb and the interpretation thereof, 
the words of the wise and their dark sayings/ But 
events have come to pass, in these latter days of the 
earth, which, although they do not in all cases enable 
us to see the force of the saying itself, plainly guide 
us to the object of them all. For instance, although 
the proverbs of Solomon, which have come down to 
us in the book bearing that name, are all apparently, 
or on the surface, applicable to, or drawn from, the 
ordinary matters of daily life; yet, now that Fie, who 
is made unto his people c Wisdom,’ has come, we 
have in him the interpretation of all Solomon’s say¬ 
ings about wisdom ; and we now know why it was 
necessarily hidden wisdom , until he came. In the 
true and false women, spoken of by the same 
preacher, we find prototypes of the true and false 
churches, described in the New Testament. In his 
forcible picture of inebriety and its effects, (Prov. 
xxiii. 29.) we observe a faithful delineation of the 
effects of mixing doctrines , as well as wines; of the 
unsteadiness of mind and conduct which follows, 
c heaping to ourselves teachers, having itching ears, 
and turning away from the unmixed milk of the 
word.’ In these, and many other instances, we may 


232 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


not be able to estimate tbe extreme beauty with 
which the original saying must have been clothed, 
when it came from the lips of the wise man ; but the 
fulfilment of the anticipated hidden matters, which 
lay behind the veil of the proverb, c like apples of 
gold within a network of silver,’ gives us the scope, 
and spirit, and design of them. We now understand 
why it was ‘ the glory of God to conceal a thing (to 
veil it in figures), but the honour of kings to search 
out a matter/ 

We cannot imagine, however, that the spirit or 
design of the divine sentences of old was wholly 
unintelligible to the hearers. c The holy men of 
God, who spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost, searched what and what manner of time the 
Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify , 
when it testified’ the things concerning him and his 
kingdom. The queen of Sheba travelled to very 
little purpose, if she did not understand the prophetic 
nature of all that filled her with so much admiration 
at the court of Solomon ; and her journey was a 
most unprofitable one, if she only carried back a 
few unintelligible sayings, or a few dry moral sen¬ 
tences. 

The superiority of our position, who have been 
honoured to hear of the Greater than Solomon, was, 
in a great degree, made up to the expectants of the 
Old Testament, by the construction of the language, 
and its intimate connexion with the prophetic signs 
respecting the coming and the kingdom of the 
Messiah. Unless we take this into consideration, 
their acts will appear as absurd as their language 


THE KNOWLEDGE OF WITTY INVENTIONS. 233 

unmeaning. How puerile, nay, how unjust and 
foolish, the riddle which Samson put to his friends, 
at his marriage-feast, if it meant nothing more than 
that he had slain a lion and eaten honey out of the 
carcase ! If it merely respected that , it is only 
paralleled by one child asking another to guess what 
had happened to him on a certain day, and dignify¬ 
ing the puerility by the name of a riddle. The 
Spirit of God would never have been given to Samson 
to enact, nor have been employed in recording, such 
foolery. Samson ‘ put forth’ a sentence, to them, 
containing a great truth, under two most striking 
figures;—that truth, which was the subject of all 
the Old Testament mysteries or figures : ‘ Out of the 
eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came 
forth sweetness.’ The subject, and the language in 
which it was couched, would have been at once 
understood by his companions, had there been any 
‘ wise-hearted’ among the thirty young men—any 
accustomed to look from the sign to the thing 
signified; even although they had heard nothing 
about the lion or the honey. Now that the thing 
hath come to pass, we can see an evident allusion in 
Samson’s riddle beyond its application to the occur¬ 
rence which suggested it to him ; so might those 
who heard it, if they had instituted a proper investi¬ 
gation into the language and figures in which it was 
clothed. 

We have briefly glanced at the nature of these 
‘ dark sayings’ of the Old Testament, on account 
of their connexion with the figures interwoven with 
the language. Interesting as it would be to analyse 


234 


PATH OF THE JUST. 


these sayings, and to obtain glimpses of the pro¬ 
phetic instruction conveyed in them, the necessity of 
the study is superseded by the appearance of the 
true Light of which they all testified. It is, how¬ 
ever, not merely a matter of interest but of impor¬ 
tance, to notice the source from whence they were 
drawn, and the object to which they all point; for 
it gives consistency, force, and beauty to the instruc¬ 
tion conveyed by them, and accounts for the high 
estimation in which they were held by those who 
4 blessed God for having placed so wise a Son on the 
throne of his father David/ 

The mode of instruction by means of parables 
was, like every part of the Divine Economy, dark¬ 
ened and disfigured ere our Lord appeared, by the 
teachers in the Jewish church. They took away 
the key of knowledge, entering not in themselves, 
nor suffering others to enter. The services of the 
law, which prefigured the atonement, were trans¬ 
formed into an unmeaning ritual: the statutes of the 
Lord, which preached the Divine Righteousness, 
were divested of their spiritual meaning, and made 
a ground of self-righteousness; and the mysteries, 
figures, and parables of the Old Testament, were 
stripped of all their beauty, and made the ground¬ 
work of the most pitiful compilation of mysticisms 
and puerilities, which ever disgraced a civilized 
people. 

Leaving the land of Judea, the scene of so many 
wonderful works—of so many preachings to a dis¬ 
obedient and a gainsaying people,—let us now T turn 


THE KNOWLEDGE OF WITTY INVENTIONS. 235 


to the Gentile nations, ancl enquire what use they 
made of the knowledge of God, delivered to them 
when 4 they received the portion of goods which 
fell to their share, and took their journeys into far 
countries/ 


230 


CHAPTER XX. 

THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 

i When the Most High divided to the nations their 
inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, 
he set the bounds of the people according to the 
number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s 
portion is his people : Jacob is the lot of his inhe¬ 
ritance.’ 

In this declaration it is distinctly intimated that, 
when God scattered the Babel confederacy, and sent 
the various tribes to seek out and to possess their 
different inheritances, they were all under the eye of 
the Governor among the nations. However acciden¬ 
tal, to themselves or to others, the choice they made 
of countries might appear, Heaven was directing all 
their movements, with a special relation to the part 
each might be called upon, in the providence of God, 
to take for or against his chosen people ; or to the 
share which might afterwards be allotted to them, in 
promulgating the report of what was to be transacted 
in c Jacob, the lot of the Lord’s inheritance/ All had 
a reference to the fulfilment of the one great and cdo- 

O O 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 237 

rious matter, for which creation had been called into 
existence. 

Until that great event was brought to pass, at 
which all heaven shall for ever wonder, God left the 
nations to choose their own ways; that is, he made 
no new revelations to them as he did to his own 
portion. Yet 4 he left himself not without witness,’ 
even amongst these nations. 4 He did good, sending 
rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their 
hearts with food and gladness/ In these daily acts of 
beneficence he maintained his character, in the sight 
of all nations, as the God who keepeth covenant and 
mercy for ever; for in these things he fulfilled to all 
nations the covenant made with their progenitor, 
Noah ; 4 summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, 
did not cease.’ 

But his creatures became 4 unthankful, vain in 
their imaginations, and their foolish heart was 
darkened/ They were sent abroad with the know¬ 
ledge of God and of his ways. These ways of his 
continued the same; 4 he caused his sun to shine, and 
his rain to come down, on the just and on the unjust/ 
But they 4 did not like to acknowledge the God’ 
who had been revealed to them, and whose glory 
had been declared to them. 4 Professing themselves 
to be wise, they became fools; and changed the glory 
of the uncorruptible God’ into that which is no 
glory. 

Some of the ways in which the glory of God was 
revealed to man from the first, were briefly enquired 
into in the earlier chapters of this work. Amongst 
those ways, we found one, in particular, which 


238 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


seemed well fitted for the situation and state of the 
world after the dispersion of Babel. Of that way, 
even the finger and hand-writing of the Almighty 
in the firmament, it is said : 4 There is no speech nor 
language where their voice is not heard; their words 
have gone out to all the earth, and their report to the 
ends of the world.’ 

In reference to that way, and its adaptation to the 
office of a public instructor to the nations, there is 
a most remarkable allusion in Deut. iv. 19. Moses 
is there warning the Israelites against idolatry of 
every kind ; and, after telling them 4 to take good 
heed to make no graven image,’ he says, 4 and lest 
thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou 
seest the sun, and the mopn, and the stars, all the host 
of heaven, shouldst be driven to worship them and 
serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided , 
(marg. imparted) unto all nations under all heaven! 

With this Book imparted to them, all nations 
were suffered for a time to choose their own wavs. 
That book, in which the visible tilings of God clearly 
declared the invisible, was accompanied, to them, 
with a very wonderful key, that of a language illus¬ 
trative of the works of God; 4 so that they were 
without excuse.’ That same key opened up to 
them the meaning of all the surprising natural 
phenomena of the earth, as well as of the heavens, 
which so distinctly declared 4 the eternal power 
and Godhead*' of their Creator. 

How they corrupted that knowledge, and ‘changed 
the truth of God into a lie,’ is the subject of the 
following chapters. 


289 


CHAPTER XXI. 

(The Way of the Heathen .) 

NIMROD, 

Although we purpose dividing the subject before 
us into the several classes of religions which sprung 
out of the Babel union, rather than into notices of 
the different kingdoms and the creed professed by 
each ; yet, the brief reference in the Bible to the 
first potentate of Babylon is so curious, and the 
kingdom which began with him occupies so large a 
space in the prophetic writings, that it seems advis¬ 
able to devote a few pages to the consideration of the 
origin and nature of that great Old Testament Anti¬ 
christian power. 

It is narrated of Nimrod, in the third generation 
from Noah, that ‘ he began to be mighty in the 
earth ;* and as ‘ the beginning of his kingdom,’ (that 
is, the head or metropolis of his kingdom,) ‘ was 
Babel,’ we conclude that he headed the remains of 
the coalition there, after the sects and parties had 
been broken off, and had taken their departure to 
other lands. 


240 


THE WAY OF TnE HEATHEN. 


The coalition formed by Nimrod extended far, 
and many great cities rapidly attested the number 
of his subjects, and the extent of his power. After 
founding four cities in the land of Shinar, 4 he went 
forth into Assyria,’ and built four there also. When 
all these cities are enumerated, there is a curious 
note, appended in the text, which seems in our 
translation to apply only to Resen, but which we 
apprehend refers to the whole Babylonish power. 
4 The same,’ it is said, 4 is a great city.’ Now less 
is heard afterwards of Resen than of the others. 
The note is literally 4 this, the city, the great.’ 
Comparing that note with what is said of Spiritual 
Babylon, Rev. xvii. 18, 4 the woman which thou 
sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the 
kings of the earth,’ it may be considered whether 
the note in Genesis is not applicable to the whole 
Babylonish dominion ; and thus early points it out 
as the great ancient worldly power, which was to 
stand in contrast with the smallness and comparative 
weakness of 4 Jacob, the Lord’s portion.’ 

The first monarch of this great empire is said to 
have been 4 a mighty hunter before the Lord.’ This 
is one of the instances in which the translators have 
chosen the secondary and derivative meaning of a 
word, instead of its primary signification ; one of 
those unfortunate phrases which have contributed 
so much to instil contemptible ideas respecting the 
early events recorded in the Bible. It might have 
been expected, that, if the unlikelihood had not 
occurred to them, of the sacred historian recording 
that the monarch of an empire so magnificent was 

5 


NIMROD. 


241 


so great a lmnter that his hunting became a proverb; 
the phrase, 4 before the Lord ,’ would have set the 
translators right. 

The original intention of the Babel conspiracy was 
uniformity, before the Lord , or in religious matters. 
Nimrod seems to have entered into the scheme with 
great zeal: and 4 verily he had his reward.’ He was 
4 a mighty constrainer, before the Lord,’ or in the 
cause of the Lord; and lie acquired great fame by it; 
his efforts were very notable, for it continued a pro¬ 
verb for many ages afterwards, 4 Even as Nimrod 
the great Intolerant before the Lord.’ 

Thus early did that Great Intolerance begin to 
rear its head, which became, in process of time, 4 the 
hammer of the whole earth thus early did that 
hunting commence, of which it was afterwards said, 
4 will ye hunt the souls of my people ?’ 4 they hunt 
every man his brother with a net.’ 

We shall not properly estimate the nature of this 
bigotry and zeal, and the jealousy with which it 
always looked at 4 the inheritance of the Lord,’ 
without keeping in view the religious origin of the 
Babylonish kingdom ; and the public nature of the 
call of Abraham, and of the promises given to him 
and his seed. 

4 That great city Babylon’ and its dependencies 
had their origin, while all the earth was at one on 
religious matters. There was no doubt, therefore, 
its institutions were founded in truth, and that its 
doctrines were similar to those professed by the 
immediate progenitors of Abraham. The scheme, 
although, as formerly noticed, only a section of the 

R 


242 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


great one, was still magnificent in its conception, 
and imposing, by the worldly power and grandeur 
which accompanied it. Founded on such principles, 
possessed of such power, it assumed the tone of the 
kingdom of heaven in this world. It not only ‘sat as 
a queen,’ but ‘it lifted itself up to heaven/ Babylon 
became ‘ the praise of the whole earth and it was 
said of her and her antitype, ‘ what city is like unto 
this great city ?’—her ‘head’ or origin in heaven, her 
institutions heavenly, her very intolerance a passport 
to the kingdom of heaven ! 

It is observable how strictly Babel maintained 
the character of her founder for intolerance, even 
to the very last. Even when Nebuchadnezzar 
acknowledges the God of Shadrach, Meshech, and 
Abednego — the acknowledgment cannot be made 
without a Bull ; the confession of the truth cannot 
be made without a decree; ‘ therefore, I, Nebuchad¬ 
nezzar, make a decree, that every people, nation, and 
language, which speak anything amiss against the 
God of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, shall be 
cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dung¬ 
hill : because there is no other God that can deliver 
after this sort.’ 

A profession of religion, which spoke thus ‘ so 
exceeding arrogantly,’ even when it spoke true, 
could not but look with great jealousy and hatred at 
a comparative handful of worshippers, of the race 
of Abraham, laying claim to the title of the Church 
and nation of God,—‘ a chosen nation, a peculiar 
people/ The part the world would take, in the 
question at issue between them, may be easily 


NIMROD. 


243 


guessed. Accordingly, we find every nation, as 
well as Assyria, ready to seize on any pretext for 
harassing and vexing the despised people in the land 
of Judea. 

We see, also, in the different fortunes of the two 
antagonist parties, how greatly the faith of the 
smaller was tried. Worldly prosperity attended 
Babylon; ‘she was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand;’ 
Israel, excepting at one or two typical periods, was 
generally 4 a poor and an afflicted people,’ 4 though 
the Lord her God was with her, and the shout of 
a king was heard in the midst of her.’ In this lay 
one of the strongest temptations of the enemy, in 
the many and too successful attempts to seduce 
her 4 to commit fornication, and to eat things 
offered to idols.’ She gained the esteem of the 
world when she did so, and would be warmly 
approved for her 4 liberality,’—greatly praised for 
laying aside a bigoted adherence to one particular 
form of worship ; as if any form, 4 gone about with a 
devout heart,’ would not be equally acceptable to 
God ! 

To estimate fairly the temptations held out to 
the Israelites to 4 learn the ways of the nations,’ 
and to 4 forsake the Lord God of their fathers;’— 
to account for their excessive proneness to borrow 
4 the patterns of altars,’ and the forms of religious 
worship observed by those around them ;—w T e must 
never lose sight of this circumstance, — that there 
was a similarity between their own worship and 
that to which they w T ere so often seduced. It was 
this similarity which gave Babel all its power over 


244 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHFN. 


the conscience. The great 'principles were recog¬ 
nised at Babel:—and even there, at a very late 
period of her history, there were acknowledgments 
made by her monarchs, which cannot be accounted 
for on any grounds, but that the knowledge of the 
God and Saviour was never altogether lost, even in 
Babylon. That knowledge was perverted, and the 
affairs of religion applied to objects of worldly am¬ 
bition ; but Babel would have lost all her power had 
she openly professed infidelity. 

It is interesting to trace the confessions of the 
truth, and of the true God, made in the land of 
Chaldea, from the time of Abraham downwards. 
It has already been noticed, that Abraham did not 
leave his native land on account of its idolatry. 
When he sent there for a wife for Isaac, Laban 
calls the messenger 4 blessed of Jehovah .’ Laban 
and Bethuel both said, 4 the thing proceedeth from 
Jehovah ; and when they blessed Rebekah, they did 
so in language having a direct reference to the 
promise ; 4 be thou mother of thousands of millions, 
and let thy seed possess the gate of those who 
hate them.’ When Jacob, too, goes to the same 
country, and marries two wives, although one of 
them steals her fathers Elohim or Gods, yet both of 
them are frequently found confessing Jehovah ; and 
Laban, who had a vision in a dream, says to Jacob, 
that the 4 Elohim of his father Isaac had appeared 
to him.’ 

Balaam, who was sent for by Balak, kino- 0 f 
Moab, came out of the mountains of Armenia. He 
is called a prophet by the apostles. He consulted 


NIMROD. 


245 


with Jehovah; Jehovah spake to him; and in the 
grandest prophetic language on record, he foretold 
the coming of the Messiah, and the nature of his 
kingdom. 4 He loved,’ indeed, 4 the wages of un¬ 
righteousness ;’ but the same charge was brought 
against many prophets in the New Testament church, 
even in the days of the apostles. It is singular, too, 
that the number of Balaam’s altars and sacrifices 
should have so coincided with the acknowledged 
sacred numbers in the Scriptures. 

In later periods, we have the decrees of Darius 
and Cyrus; and we find Rabshakeh, the captain of 
Sennacherib, declaring to the Jews, in the name of 
his master, 4 Jehovah said to me, go up against 
this land to destroy it.’ But, above all, what does 
Nebuchadnezzar, the setter-up of the great golden 
image, say, when he sees Shadrach, Meshech, and 
Abednego walking in the midst of the fiery furnace, 
unhurt ? 4 Did not we cast three men bound into 

the midst of the fire ? They answered and said unto 
the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo 
I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the 
fire, and they have no hurt: and the form of the 
fourth is like the Son op God.’ 

This celebrated saying of the king of Babylon, 
and the circumstances which produced it, lead to 
the consideration of one part of the creed of the 
East, which, from a circumstance we are now about 
to notice, may be appropriately brought forward, 
under the title of this chapter. 

The word translated 4 mighty,’ and applied thrice 
to Nimrod, in the short notice we have of him in 


24 6 


TIIE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


Genesis, is, in the original, Geber . Now, it is rather 
a curious circumstance that the sect of Fireicorship- 
pers , which, in Persia and other eastern countries, 
lay the strongest claim to antiquity and purity of 
worship, are to this day called Gebers. They are 
said to be c rigorous in their morals and honest in 
their dealings. They profess to believe a resurrection 
and a future judgment, and to worship only one 
God. And though they perform their worship be¬ 
fore fire, and direct their devotion towards the rising 
sun, yet they strenuously maintain that they worship 
neither , but that these are the most expressive sym¬ 
bols of the Deity/ 

Whether their sentiments are herein truly stated, 
or whether they are entitled to the antiquity they 
claim for them, it is certainly curious, as already 
noticed, to find a sect professing tenets at all similar 
to those now quoted, in that part of the world where 
a Geber appeared so early,—in that part of the world, 
which all history states to have been the birth-place 
and cradle of what is designated Fire-worship. That 
worship, as will be afterwards noticed, assumed 
various forms, but in the tenets of the Gebers we 
certainly may trace it in the purest form; in that 
form which it is reasonable to suppose it would as¬ 
sume, ere corruption changed symbols into realities, 
and hieroglypliical truths into gods or images. 

It is interesting, too, to observe, in this statement 
of the sentiments of the Gebers, so striking a coinci¬ 
dence between these tenets and the symbolical use 
of Fire as illustrative of heavenly truth, noticed in 
the 16th chapter of this work, as approved of and 


NIMROD, 247 

countenanced by the Spirit of God. The same ideas 
pervade both. 

In the symbolical use of Fire, as the great purifier; 
as the concentration of truth ; and as emblematical 
of the power and operation of truth, in the opposing 
principles of light and darkness, and the triumph of 
the light and fire over its opponent, as illustrative 
of the opposing principles of good and evil, of the 
truth and the lie ;—we see a much more reasonable 
origin for the extensive idolatry that sprung out of 
it, than in the supposition that mankind bethought 
themselves, all at once, of falling down on their 
knees to fire, or to the sun, as a god. When, too, 
we find a king, in the country where these symbols 
were extensively used, acknowledging and recognis¬ 
ing ‘ the form of the fourth’ in the fire to be the 
likeness of God manifest in the flesh ; and remember 
that the four living creatures 4 alive in the jire had 
been an emblem in use from the earliest ages to 
preach the truth of God ;—we meet with something 
in this ‘must give us pause,’ ere we can say that, 
even in the fire-worship of Babylon, the truth had 
altogether been lost sight of, however much it may 
have been corrupted. 

There is something, also, very interesting in the 
earliest traditions of the fire-worshippers of the East; 
if, in recording them, we translate the figures or 
persons which are introduced, according to the lan¬ 
guage used at the time the kingdom of Nimrod was 
first set up. 

At the head of these traditions stands that of Oan, 
or Oannes (evidently a corruption of Noah), a being, 


248 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


half man, half fish, who taught their ancestors out 
of the sea , and gave them knowledge so complete, 
4 that nothing has since been added to it.’ Among 
other things which this Oan taught them, was, that 
in the beginning there was nothing but darkness and 
an abyss of waters. Men appeared with tico icings ; 
some with two and some with four faces. They had 
one body, but two or four heads, and had the horns 
and hoofs of animals. Can we avoid tracing in this 
a singular and curious corruption of the traditions 
regarding the cherubim at Eden, told to them by 
those who escaped the deluge ? 

Then we have an account of Caherman ( the 
resemblance in the fire ), of the Peri ( beautiful and 
excellent ), and the opposing spirits Dives ( out¬ 
casts ), 4 the sons of God and the Daughters of Cain 
of Tahmuraz {the 'perfect change from dark to light), 
attacking the Dive Demrush {the Power of the 
grace), in his own cave, and freeing the Peri Merjan 
{the afflicted dove). 

We are then introduced to Mihr {the great light), 
standing between Oramaz and Ariman (the one 
the concealer of and the other the sender forth of 
the light). These three figures are represented 
together on many of the Persian sculptures still 
extant. The figure on the right of Mihr, or Mithras, 
holds the torch inverted, the type of death; the figure 
on the left holds it aloft, the type of life; while 
Mithras himself {the wounder or bruiser of the 
head), is in the act of slaying the ox ; and represen¬ 
tations of the sun, moon, and stars are sculptured 
around. 


NIMROD. 


249 


Some of the particulars that have transpired, re¬ 
specting the initiation of worshippers of Mithras, are 
also curious. They were clothed in armour, and had 
to contend with men dressed in various habiliments 
and in various forms. They had to pass through the 
fire—they were baptised—they received a mark—an 
offering of bread and of water was made, accom¬ 
panied by prayer; and an emblem of the resur¬ 
rection was shown, but of what kind is not narrated. 
The ceremony finished with a crown being presented 
to them on the point of a sword. They were hence¬ 
forth called Lions of Mithras, the lion being with 
them one of the hieroglyphics of fire or light. 

We shall be better prepared to consider the nature 
of some of these ceremonies, after enquiring into that 
part of the Chaldean philosophy, or mythology, 
which forms the subject of the next chapter. 

Before concluding the present reference to the 
kingdom founded by Nimrod, (in the consideration of 
which it was not necessary to allude to the various 
changes and divisions it afterwards underwent, but 
to consider it as the notable Asiatic power in the 
ancient world, which, though sometimes divided and 
assuming various names, at other times extended 
from Ethiopia to India,) there are some matters, 
besides those already glanced at, which deserve 
notice here. 

In the enquiry we instituted into the subject of 
language, the reasons for believing letters to have 
been coeval with language itself were briefly stated. 

Now it is observable, that in Chaldea, where the 
affairs of religion were more protected by public 


250 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


institutions, and more systematically arranged, than 
any where else, the square form of letters was 
maintained, until at least the time of the carrying 
of the Israelites into captivity there. The antiquity 
of the Babylonish religious institutions, and the 
safeguards under which they were placed, renders it 
very improbable that any material change could 
have taken place there on the sacred characters; 
and the circumstance of these very characters being 
used by the Jews, after their return, (although they 
were only seventy years in Babylon, and under a 
state of oppression, not at all likely to have afforded 
them opportunities of learning them for the first 
time), leaves very little room to doubt that the square 
form was that in use in the days of Abraham, who 
went from Chaldea ; and that it was in that form of 
letter the sacred books of the Jews, as well as of the 
Chaldeans, were originally written. This seems 
greatly confirmed by the Chaldaic language, at the 
time of the Captivity, being little else than a dialect 
of the Hebrew. 

It is interesting to observe, also, that the farther 
back the Hindoo and other Eastern languages are 
traced, the nearer they approach in form to the 
square or Chaldaic character; and recent exten¬ 
sions of the British power and dominion in the 
East, have led to the discovery of sacred records, in 
the adyta of some temples, so ancient, that the key 
to them is lost. These writings have a most striking 
resemblance, in the form of the characters, to that in 
which the most ancient manuscripts of the books of 
Moses, now extant, were written. 


NIMROD. 


251 


These circumstances offer a very strong presump¬ 
tion, that the original sacred character, throughout 
the world, came from one source; and was of that 
firm square form, above referred to, which gra¬ 
dually became more rounded and flowing, as it was 
applied to secular purposes. 

This, likewise, tends to confirm the views already 
before the reader, on the subject of language; and 
renders it at least very improbable that mankind 
could, all at once, or within a very short period, 
entirely lose sight of the first principles inculcated by 
the primeval language. It accounts, likewise, for the 
very same ideas, modes of thinking, images, and 
hieroglyphical figures being found in almost every 
nation. They lay in the language itselfi connected 
with the natural objects familiar to, and within 
view of, the worshippers, wheresoever they emi¬ 
grated. 

On these principles, the similarity of the ideas 
concerning kingly power, and the emblems with 
which it was every where invested, can alone be 
accounted for. The crown, the horn, the sceptre, 
the laurel, the branch, were not only the insignia of 
sovereignty among all people, and hieroglyphs 
having the same meaning in every nation,—but, in 
every kingdom, the persons of sovereigns were 
anointed and were held sacred, as well as in Judea; 
and in every nation there was the expectation of a 
king to arise, 4 whose kingdom,’ in the words of 
Darius, 4 shall not be destroyed, and his dominion 
unto the end.’ Thus the arising of the kingdom of 


252 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


the Messiah was preached at every court, in the 
figurative and prospective emblems which surrounded 
it, and which decorated the persons of the kings; 
and thus a king to reign in righteousness was 4 the 
desire of all nations/ 


253 


CHAPTER XXII, 

{The Way of the Heathen .) 

ASTROLOGY. 

In a former chapter, the reasons were stated for 
believing that the historical notices, respecting the 
astronomical purposes to which 4 the top ’ of the 
tower of Babel or temple of Belus was applied, 
are corrupted traditions of the religious forms and 
services established there. These traditions receive 
corroboration, from the pre-eminence which fire- 
worship has always maintained in that part of the 
world—a worship intimately connected with the 
observation of the heavenly bodies. 

In other parts of this work we have, also, pro¬ 
duced some of those remarkable allusions to the 
prophetic and illustrative nature of the signs of 
heaven, which plainly indicate that the early wor¬ 
shippers were authorized to look at them as preach¬ 
ers of the Divine purposes in store for man, as well 
as proofs of the Divine power. To the passages then 
adduced, which were merely a few out of many, we 
may here just add one : 4 Lift up your eyes on high, 


254 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


and behold, who hath created these; that bringeth 
out their host by number; he calleth them all by 
names; by the greatness of his might, for that he 
is strong in power, not one faileth (literally, not one 
man is separate from the gathering or flock to which 
he belongs). Why then sayest thou, 0 Jacob, and 
speakest, 0 Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, 
and my judgment is passed over from my God ? 
Hast thou not known ? Hast thou not heard, that 
the Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the 
ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary V 

In such passages, there are so many singular 
references to the naming, as well as the classifying, 
arranging, or numbering of the hosts, of heaven, 
that, taken in connexion with the power and mean¬ 
ing which names possessed in ‘ the one language/ 
can leave no room for us to doubt that 4 the invisible 
thin ofs of God from the creation of the world/ were 
in no part of the creation more distinctly preached, 
to the early worshippers, than in the firmament. 
That this preaching was of a prospective or pro¬ 
phetic nature, as well as a daily testimony to the 
power and attributes of God, is just as plainly 
declared in other quotations formerly made. 

We have more than once observed, that it is not 
at all necessary to the scope of our argument, to 
ascertain either the very nature of the instruction and 
prophecy given, or the very mode of its inculcation. 
It is quite sufficient that the existence of a doctrinal 
purpose in, and a prophetic use of, the firmament, be 
proved. That purpose and that use may have been 
much more extensive, much more expressive, much 


ASTROLOGY. 


255 


more wonderful than it is now possible for us to 
understand ; or it may have been much less so than 
the passages we have quoted may lead us to think. 
It is of no importance, in the present stage of our 
enquiry, which of these suppositions is the true one. 
In an investigation into the origin and nature of the 
Chaldean and all other systems of Astrology, it is 
enough that we ascertain at the outset, (as we have 
ascertained,) that, from the beginning, the heavens 
were looked to as declaring the glory of God, and 
the firmament as showing forth his handiwork; and 
were considered to have in this respect an illustrative 
power, similar to 4 the voice of speech.’ 

When a temple then was reared, and a priesthood 
appointed, to establish and perpetuate a religion, 
which, even in its more degenerate and idolatrous 
days, addressed itself authoritatively to all ‘ people, 
nations, and languages,’—a mode of illustration so 
universal in its speech, as the figures of the firmament, 
could not be omitted. The introduction of the signs 
of heaven into that worship was founded on the 
known and acknowledged fact, that by these signs 
the God of heaven had instructed his followers at the 
east of Eden. Even had they wanted this sanction, 
they spoke a language which found a response in 
every mind and in every bosom. The language the 
world possessed gave them a key to the signs, which 
rendered the figures, in public estimation, fit and 
appropriate ornaments of a heavenly temple ; useful 
and expressive illustrations of the great truths, to 
which the recent deluge had borne testimony, in a 
sermon which could not soon be forgotten. 


256 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


It was this which gave Babel all its authority, all 
its power over the consciences of men. Without 
some of the principles professed there, and figures 
first set up being intelligible to the mass of mankind, 
it is not possible that the influence of Babylon, in 
religious matters, could have been so great or so 
general; or that the true worshippers could have 
been so easily seduced, at all times, either to her 
religious profession, or to others similar to it. But 
a system, the first principles of which were univer¬ 
sally acknowledged to be good ; the figures to illus¬ 
trate it apt; the arguments for its support specious; 
the worldly prosperity of it great; the temptations 
to join in it manifold ; — in such a system we see an 
origin for the priestly power of Babel, which does 
not call upon us to believe that mankind had then 
fewer reasoning powers, and fewer opportunities for 
cultivating and exercising them, than in, what we are 
modestly pleased to call, more enlightened times. 

The Babel priesthood and worshippers appealed 
to the heavens, as shewing forth the glory of God, 
and the firmament his handiwork, in its hieroglyphic 
preaching; by which day uttered speech to day, 
and night to night shewed forth wisdom. They 
pointed to these heavens, as illustrative of the 
invisible works of Him who is, and was, and is 
to come. They could advocate on scriptural, or 
patriarchal grounds, that those illustrated what he 
had done, the promise he had made; what he was 
doing, in his spiritual influences among men, just 
as the heat of his emblem, the sun, penetrated all 
nature; and what he was to do , when the Great 

5 


ASTROLOGY. 


257 


Milir was to come, and when the light of the 
figures, during the night, was no longer to be 
required. 

Who so likely to know the will of God, and his 
future purposes, as those who night and day mi¬ 
nistered in a temple dedicated to this service—as 
those who consulted the Urim (Uriman, Ahriman) 
and the Thummim (Thammuz) in such a temple ? 
Can we wonder at the power they began rapidly to 
possess and abuse over the minds of men ? Can we 
be surprised that Babylon lifted herself up to heaven, 
set her head among the stars, and became the 
proudest of all the proud enemies of the separated 
people ? Above all, can we wonder, that a power 
so formidable was soon perverted to the basest 
purposes; and that while God was, in his own 
good way, by his doings among his people, giving 
line upon line, precept upon precept, to keep alive 
the true meaning of all the wisdom contained in 
his visible works, — Babylon should have been sink¬ 
ing into that abyss of superstition, astrology, and 
polytheism, which brought down upon her the 
righteous judgment of Him, who will not give his 
glory to another, nor his praises to graven images! 

But let it never be lost sight of, that Babylon, 
with her worship, could not have continued to keep 
the hold she did, and to be so seductive, if she had 
blotted out every trace of the principles she once 
professed. She still 4 hewed out her pillars,’ like 
wisdom ; she still 4 slew her offerings; ’ she still 
‘ mingled her wine.’ Still she said, 4 1 have peace 
offerings with me, this day I have paid my vows 

s 


258 


THE WAY OF TnE HEATHEN. 


k therefore/ she added to those she entrapped,— 
‘ therefore, came I forth to meet thee: I have 
decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with 
carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have 
perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.’ 
Thus it was so necessary for the wise man to say, 
although he himself neglected his own admonition, 
c let not thine heart incline to her ways, go not 
astray in her paths, for she hath cast down many 
wounded; yea, many strong have been slain by her.’ 
c At the fall of Babylon, shall fall the slain of all the 
earth.’ 

If these paths were enticing to the ‘ simple’ at 
first, from the simplicity of doctrine and practice to 
which the purest fire-worshippers have always laid 
claim,—they became still more so, when the hiero¬ 
glyphics and prophetic symbols were gradually 
turned from their primitive application, to purposes 
of the most superstitious kind, but of the deepest 
interest to individuals. The priests, once looked up 
to as the true interpreters of the symbolical and 
prophetic heavens, were amply prepared with means 
to work on the religious and superstitious hopes and 
fears of the people. 

The nature of their studies gave them a minute 
acquaintance with the motions, as well as the clas¬ 
sification, of the celestial lights. They could thus 
foretel, precisely, the moment when any of their 
heavenly monitors would be obscured or enlight¬ 
ened. I lie extent to which such an engine might 
be used, for working on the minds of the more 
ignorant among the people at first, and over all 


ASTROLOGY. 


259 


classes to some degree, may easily be imagined. 
The general prophetic nature of the heavens, in 
allusion to the kingdom of the Messiah, was first 
generally taken for granted and proceeded upon. 
The tendency of human nature being to corrupt 
truth by altering it, adding to it, or mystifying it;— 
so when the ultimate and great scope of heavenly 
truth was, from any or all of these causes, lost sight 
of, other applications were made of the celestial 
phenomena; all of them still in a prophetic spirit; 
all of them in apparent consonance with the great 
principles they set out with. 

The prognostication of eclipses and other natural 
phenomena would, thus, soon become a part of the 
prophetic intelligence, derived from intercourse with 
heaven . And we may suppose the reverence and 
the awe with which those men would be looked up 
to, whom they were taught to consider priests of 
God,—so near to the Deity, so intimately acquainted 
with his will, when they heard their prophecy of the 
obscuration of the brightest emblem of the Deity; 
and when they saw that emblematical representation 
of his favour withdrawn from them, at the very 
moment his messengers had predicted ! 

By these and other perversions of their functions, 
as ministers in the temple of Belus, an amazing 
political power and influence would be given to the 
Babylonish priests ; and the fame of Babylon, of her 
diviners and her astrologers, went out into all nations. 
How expressive, then, are the words of the prophet 
to that Babylon, which had appeared, through her 
intimacy with the heavens , to foretel, as well as to 


260 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


accomplish, the greatest doings among the nations,— 
how cutting his sarcasm in allusion to her fall, to 
which Babylon herself was so blind : c Let now the 
viewers of the heavens, the seers or fortellers by the 
constellations, the prognosticators of new events, 
stand up and save thee from these things that shall 
come upon thee !’ 

It cannot fail to attract our attention,—while 
noticing the assumption of prophetic political know¬ 
ledge, by the astrologers of Babylon, through their 
intercourse with the stars,—that most of the true 
prophecies, regarding the antichristian kingdoms, 
were given by hieroglyphical figures of animals and 
of men; and it was certainly a very wonderful 
judgment on the gods of Chaldea, that hierogly¬ 
phical figures should have been revealed, in dreams 
and visions, to their kings, to which the professed 
students of the hieroglyphical language of the fir¬ 
mament could give no key. Still more clearly did 
this judgment on her gods appear, while their wise 
men were turned backward and their diviners mad, 
when one of the despised separatists interpreted the 
hieroglyphics; and had other figures revealed to 
himself, foreshowing, amongst other things, the total 
destruction of the antichristian power, ancient as well 
as modern. 

But the intercourse which the Magi had with the 
heavens, was too gainful a matter to be applied only 
to political purposes. If the fates of kingdoms were 
foretold, the fortunes of the individuals composing 
those kingdoms, particularly the illustrious among 
them, might be enquired into. It was easy to invent 


ASTROLOGY. 


261 


a mode of connecting the fates of individuals with 
certain stars; nay, it is easy to see how men 
receiving, in a perverted state, such a study as we 
have been tracing to its origin, might have them¬ 
selves believed in the diabolical nonsense to which 
they perverted the works of the finger of the Al¬ 
mighty. If constellations, or figures like them, 
were hieroglyphical of all nations, might not the stars 
of which they were composed, have some reference 
to, some influence on the fate of the illustri of those 
kingdoms ? If the stars were generally prophetic 
must they not be individually so ? Hence the apo¬ 
theosis ; hence the translation to the sky of those 
who had been eminent for their piety on earth. 
The connection between the heavens and the earth 
was thus gradually drawn closer and closer; the 
influence of the stars became more and more be¬ 
lieved in ; until, to have disbelieved that the ultimate 
destiny of every Babylonish saint was a star, and 
the guardianship of his footsteps on earth the em¬ 
ployment of the stars, would have constituted a 
heretic , and would have been construed into a denial 
that there was a God in heaven above. 

Thus Astrology, or the foretelling of the fortunes 
of individuals by the stars, like all other superstitions, 
whether heathen or Christian, arose out of a per¬ 
version of truth—out of a ‘private interpretation’ 
of a public or general prophecy. That there was a 
prophetic voice in the firmament, regarding ‘ the 
great salvation,’ w T e have found reason to believ^, 
from many passages and circumstances, which can¬ 
not otherwise be accounted for : and we behold the 


262 


THE WAY OF THE nEATnEN. 


expectation of the Magi, in this respect, confirmed, 
when they came from Chaldea, saying, ‘ Where is 
he that is born king of the Jews ? for we have 
seen his star in the east, and have come to worship 
him.’ Without some undeniable and well-esta¬ 
blished prophetic character in the heavens, it was 
impossible that a superstition so widely spread, 
could have every where , as well as in Chaldea, have 
taken so deep root. But such a matter as this, 
committed into the hands of a skilful and designing 
race of men, to whom the consultation of the stars 
was deputed by the general voice, laid the founda¬ 
tion of, and gradually increased into, the most 
powerful and the most fascinating of all superstitions. 

We have already stated some grounds for be¬ 
lieving that, even while Babylon and her neigh¬ 
bours did thus, and in many other ways, corrupt the 
truths of God, she still, to the last, professed the 
worship of the Lord; and did not consider her 
hieroglyphical forms at all incompatible with that 
worship, even as it was observed among the Israel¬ 
ites. Accordingly, when the King of Assyria sent 
from Babylon, and other places in his dominions, 
settlers into the devastated provinces of Israel; 
when they came there, they professed to ‘fear the 
Lord , 7 while they ‘ served their own gods . 7 ‘ Every 
people made their own gods, and put them in the 
houses of the high places which the Samaritans had 
made.' ‘ And the men of Babylon made Succoth 
Benoth ( tabernacles for representations or hierogly¬ 
phics') ; and the men of Cutli made Nergal {the 
bright or shining sphere or circle , the Gilgal of the 


ASTROLOGY. 


263 


Cherubim) ; and the men of Hamath made Ashima 
(the consecration of fire); and the Avites made 
Nibhaz (the vision of the budding forth ) ; and Tar- 
tak (the setting up of the ox). And the Sepharvites 
made their children pass through the fire to Adram- 
melech (the king of glory) and Annamelech (the 
king of poicer ), the gods of Sepharvaim.’ All these 
things were, doubtless, considered great improve¬ 
ments on the ancient primitive worship; and they 
were very anxious to call the mixture, the fear of 
the Lord. But the Spirit of God says otherwise. 
These were additions of man’s making—not ap¬ 
pointed by Him who said to Moses, 4 See thou make 
all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in 
the mount.’ So it is recorded of the Samaritans, 
4 unto this day they do after the former manners 
they profess to fear, but 4 they fear not the Lord.’ 
These additions rendered their worship no longer 
the fear of the Lord, but the way of error. 

The other corruptions into which Babylon dege¬ 
nerated, will be more appropriately noticed in some 
of the following chapters. 


264 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

(The Way of the Heathen.) 

BAAL. 

Fire-worship, —or the use of the symbols of fire 
and light, and their hieroglyphics, to represent 
certain ideas or doctrines,—entered largely, as we 
have already seen, into the theological system which 
‘the one people with the one lip’ professed. We 
may, therefore, expect to find it at the root of every 
ancient form of worship. We have already traced 
some of the authorised and corrected uses of the 
pure emblems among the Hebrews. We have seen 
a branch of it descend into the east; where some of 
its professors, at this day, are said to hold it in 
great simplicity, and farther removed from idolatry 
than, perhaps, any other sect amongst the Heathen. 
Another branch of it, we have ascertained, took the 
form of astrology, and, by a corruption and private 
interpretation of the hieroglyphics of the heavens, 
attempted to bring down the influences of the stars 
on the destinies of nations and the fortunes of in¬ 
dividuals. 


BAAL. 


2G5 


But, although in different nations there was a 
tendency to, or partiality for, certain branches of 
the system in preference to others, some primitive 
ideas and figures were common to them all ; what¬ 
ever nation it appeared in, whatever name the 
religion assumed, whether it took the name of Mi¬ 
thras, of Nergal, or of Baal or Bel, it was still the 
same, or a sprout of the same, with what the wor¬ 
shippers thought, of course, more expressive or 
appropriate symbols. 

There is one circumstance which, above others, 
must excite our attention in respect to it, and that 
is,—that on the plains of Chaldea, Egypt, and 
other level districts, artificial high places should 
have been reared, to supply the places of those 
eminences which more hilly countries offered, for 
the due observance of the rites of Baal or Bel, (the 
Lord of the ascendant, or Enquiry for the ascension.) 
This circumstance, taken in connection with the 
name , indicates what is corroborated by history and 
tradition, that the great symbol, looked at, or wor¬ 
shipped, in the services of Baal, was the sun : and 
that the high places were intended to catch the first 
rays of the God, or to offer the earliest opportunities 
of celebrating his ascension in the morning. 

When we remember the many beautiful allusions 
to this sign amongst the people of God, (to some of 
which we referred in their place,) we may under¬ 
stand how such a worship may have been seductive 
to them. The idea of going early to celebrate the 
appearance of the harbinger of the morning, or of 
the Great Light itself, would offer a very plausible 


26G 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


excuse for ‘going up by steps to the altar of God,’ 
in contravention of the law. It is remarkable, too, 
that even some of those kings who purified the 
Church and Temple of old, often allowed the high 
places to remain. These high places seem, from 
this, to have held a very strong grasp on the affec¬ 
tions of the people generally ; if even those kings, 
who otherwise 4 did right in the eyes of the Lord/ 
were not themselves weak on so plausible a matter 
as this. 

It may here be noticed, that the great danger in 
referring to symbols, or appointing worship for 
them, otherwise than God ordained, was the ten¬ 
dency to raise the sign itself to a higher place than 
God intended for it ; so by degrees to constitute it 
the Deity (or in other words to introduce mate¬ 
rialism), ascribing either to first or to second causes 
powers and effects dependent on the upholding word 
of a Mediator. But although this was one danger 
to be apprehended in such worship, we have no 
reason whatever to think, with some authors, that it 
always produced this effect; or that the worship of 
Baal was neither more nor less than ascribing form- 
atory or plasmatorial powers to the irradiations of 
the material heavens. That there were materialists 
amongst the followers of Baal, there can be no doubt; 
but had such principles been those openly avowed 
as constituting it, it could never have been so seduc¬ 
tive to the worshippers of the true God. The church 
of Israel never could have gone, back and forward, 
from materialism to Jehovah, and from Jehovah to 
materialism, in the way we read of their turning 


BAAL. 


267 


from idolatry or relapsing into it. Seduction always 
wears the front of truth. The dangers of Baalim 
seem to have been these : it had propitiation in its 
sacrifices, and the emblem of the light of the Gospel 
in its doctrines; while it gendered to materialism 
and idolatry, through the will-worship paid to the 
symbols by which it was at first taught. 

It is interesting to us Gentiles, 4 far off in the isles 
of the sea,’ to observe, that in Britain the worship 
of Baal retained, for the longest period, something 
of its primitive simplicity; that it was, in these 
islands, less encumbered with the numerous idols 
and images which crept into it in eastern countries. 
In other respects, the features of the western and 
eastern Baal worship were precisely similar; and 
require no fabled intercourse between the Druids 
and Pythagoras, to account for its introduction into 
the west. It was a part of the one lip ; the light, 
the fire, the sun, the moon, and the stars, as heavenly 
symbols, being the hieroglyphics and instructors. 
Instead of the more highly-finished temples of 
warmer climes, the rude circles of Druidical stones 
attest the same astronomical and astrological in¬ 
tention. Many of these circles on high places, to 
this day, bear the same name as in the east,— 
Gibeons ; and with many of them the name of Baal, 
or Bel, is, to this day, associated. The Beltein, or 
shout of Baal, when 4 the priests cried and cut 
themselves, so that the blood ran again,’ is still a 
household word in some parts of Britain, for orgies 
of a most heathenish kind; and the ordeal by fire 
is scarcely, yet, a matter of history, in some parts 


268 


THE WAY OF THE nEATHEN. 


of the highlands of Scotland. Authors have been 
puzzled to account for the astonishing knowledge in 
physiology and astronomy attributed to the Druids, 
the priests of Baal; even by those ancient authors 
who were very far from wishing to speak favourably 
of them. But their proficiency in such matters,— 
their addiction to astrology, divination, and other 
arts, and such glimmerings of their religious dogmas 
as have been handed down,—just serve to identify 
them, in every respect, with their brethren in the 
East, — to establish their recent intercourse with 
those who were of one lip. 

There are other very striking points of similarity ; 
the consideration of which brings us to a curious 

CJ 

portion of their forms, as well as of their tenets. 
There were, either immediately connected with, or at 
no great distance from, their high places, groves or 
caves of great sanctity. They are often mentioned 
in Scripture in connexion with the worship of Baal. 
The temple caves in Persia and India have long 
been celebrated, and have excited much notice;— 
the sculptured recesses in Egypt have been often 
described and depicted;—the interior of the temples 
of Belus and other pyramids had their penetralia;— 
the caves and groves of Delphos and other places, 
celebrated in the classics, are familiar to every 
scholar;—and there are not wanting evidences of 
caves and groves near the stone circles and high 
places of the Druids, the Baal worshippers of the 
Western world. 

The origin of this, we apprehend, is to be found 
in the early division of theological studies into 

2 


BAAL. 


269 


Exoteric and Esoteric: into what was publicly 
taught and performed, and wdiat was reserved for 
the eyes and ears of the initiated. On the summits 
of their high places the offerings smoked, in the 
presence of the congregated people: in the penetralia 
of their groves, caves, and temples, the doctrines on 
which the sacrifices and other ceremonies were 
founded, seem to have been taught. 

It is much more intelligible to us why the high 
places should have been chosen for the worship of 
the heavenly bodies, whether looked to as symbols 
or as gods, than why the shade of the tree, or of 
the grove, should have been selected, for inculcating 
the higher branches of their theology. We are not, 
however, altogether without some guide to their 
footsteps, even when they sought the gloom of the 
forest. The light of the sun was not only glorious 
in appearance, it was wonderful in its latent opera¬ 
tions, and all-pervading in its penetrating power. 
Trees and shrubs were all emblematical; all attested 
the hidden or secret power of their great Divinity, 
or his emblem in the material universe. The trees 
and groves of Eden, as we took occasion to notice 
in a former chapter, were figurative; and the 
shooting forth of vegetable life, not only testified 
the power of the light or fire, but branches and 
other vegetable productions became emblematical 
of the light and its effects. Abraham himself 
planted an oak (the tree of El , the Irradiator), or a 
grove, beside the altar of the Lord. The interior 
of the temple at Jerusalem was decorated with 
palm-trees and opening flowers; and the penetralia 


270 


THE WAY OF THE nEATIIEN. 


of the fire temples had many such ornaments. 
Hence a grove was called in the Latin tongue 
Lucus, light , not because it was dark (a non 
lucendo), as the learned facetiously explain it, but 
because in it the secret operations of the light were 
seen, and the hidden wisdom of its worshippers 
expounded. Hence the Druids (Druetz, consulters 
by the tree) sought for the misseltoe (mesalta, the 
figurative instructor , or shooter-forth) ; and cele¬ 
brated the discovery of 4 the branch/ which they 
cut ofi, * with the wildest expressions of tumultuous 
joy. These Druids had there Bardi (beerdai, great 
expounders of light) ; their Yacerri (otzeri, pro¬ 
claimed of festivals) ; their Eubages (euvadi, testi¬ 
fiers, or preachers, or Euvatzi, counsellors , or ad¬ 
visers) ; and the name of their god was Hesus. 

There are other circumstances which we shall 
refer to subsequently, more explanatory of the 
sacred nature of these groves and penetralia. At 
present we may just notice, that, while Divine 
Wisdom saw meet to continue the use of these 
emblems in the Church of old, as formerly enquired 
into, to inculcate and illustrate heavenly truths ; it 
was seen right, by the Head of that church, to pro¬ 
hibit, under the law, any plantation of trees near the 
temple or altars of the Lord. When the Divine 
command in this was disregarded, it led, as amongst 
the heathen, to the grossest abuse of the ceremonies 
of religion : so that it became 4 a shame even to 
speak of those things which were done of them in 
the secresy of these groves.’ 

It is a singular circumstance, connected with the 


BAAL. 


271 


worship of Baal, and shows how strong the hiero- 
glyphical connexion between light and trees, or 
branches, was,—that when fire-worship was trans¬ 
planted into the temple of the Lord, near which 
there were no facilities for raising groves, models of 
groves, or, more probably, gold and silver branches, 
formed part of the vessels introduced with it. In 
the following passages it is not, indeed, very clear 
what the various things were, which are mentioned, 
as having been purged out of the temple, by Josiah, 
when he reformed the worship there ; but the cata¬ 
logue is curious, instancing how many things may be 
mixed up with the worship of God, without his au¬ 
thority, and yet men continue to call the worship his. 
Josiah (2 Kings xxiii.) ordered them— 

— 4 To bring forth out of the temple of the Lord, 
all the vessels (ornaments, models, or shrines) made 
for Baal, and for the grove (Aslirah, consultation by 
fire), and for all the host of heaven. 

— 4 He put down the idolatrous priests (he put 
out the burnings) which the kings of Judah had 
instituted, when they burned incense in the high 
places of the cities of Judah and round about Jeru¬ 
salem ; and the censers of Baal to the sun, and to 
the moon, and to the twelve constellations, and to 
all the host of heaven/ 

— 4 And he brought out the grove from the house 
of the Lord without Jerusalem, into the brook 
Kidron, and burnt it at the brook Kidron, and 
stamped it small to powder/ 

— 4 And he brake in pieces the models of con¬ 
secrated things, which were in the house of the 


272 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


Lord, which the women worked there—models of 
or for, the grove.’ 

— 4 And he took away the horses that the kings of 
Judah had given to the sun, and burnt the chariots 
of the sun in the fire.’ 

This allusion to the horses and chariots of the 
sun, is an early notice of Phoebus (the mouth of 
fire) with his chariot and horses. 

It deserves attention, that the burning of those 
things—the consuming of them by the god or sym¬ 
bol of the god they worshipped, was truly executing 
judgment on their gods. It corresponds well with 
what Joshua did, when bringing Israel into the 
promised land. He made the sun stand still on 
Gibeon (the high place of Baal) and the moon on 
Aijalon (the grove.) Thus they rested over the 
very places where they were worshipped; and 
where the command of Joshua might have been 
frustrated, if either the priests or the objects of 
worship had possessed any power. 

The references to the worship of Baal throughout 
the Scriptures, are very numerous; we shall merely 
quote one or two more, which point out, with great 
distinctness, the extensive use of the hieroglyphics 
of trees in that worship. 

‘ Bel is a bower-down, Nebo causeth to stoop. 
Their images were of living creatures and cattle; 
their oblations wearisome: a prophecy from the 
branch of a tree.’ 

‘ My people ask counsel at their stocks (at their 
tree), and their staff (their shooter forth) declareth 
to them,’ ‘ they sacrifice upon the tops of the 


BAAL. 


273 


mountains, and burn incense upon the hills; under 
oaks (the trees of the irradiator), and poplars (trees 
of the moon), and elms (Allah, the name of God), 
because the shadow thereof (the shaking out thereof) 
is good.’ This singular expression we shall after¬ 
wards notice. 

To these idolatries Solomon swerved in his old 
age. To Ashtaroth ( the shining of the bullock) ; 
to Molech ( the Messenger ), or Milcom ( the Mes¬ 
senger to the people) ; and to Cliemosh ( the shining 
of Chimah or the constellations). To these signs of 
heaven, not only in Egypt, but in the streets of 
Jerusalem, worship was paid. 4 The children ga¬ 
thered wood, the fathers kindled the fire, and the 
women kneaded the dough to make cakes to the 
queen of heaven and to pour out a drink-offering 
to 4 the troop’ of goddesses that were in her train ; 
even all the host of heaven : the Saba, or host, 
which the Sabeans followed. These became all so 
many false lights , leading away from the pure Urim 
and Thummim, lights and perfections, of the temple. 

We may hazard a conjecture, that, if the Queen 
of Sheba had returned, and found Solomon in the 
midst of the many hieroglyphics with which he 
was surrounded; he would not have wanted argu¬ 
ments to prove to her, how all these different figures 
and representations were just so many beautiful 
commentaries on, and practical illustrations of, the 
Schechinah in the temple. Tie might have urged 
that the Schechinah itself could not be understood 
without such lights; that he found them great aids 
to his pious feelings; that he could not go a step 

T 


274 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


in the streets of Jerusalem, without meeting some 
signs of heavenly things—something which drew 
his mind to devout contemplations. Besides this, 
he might say that his wives were many of them 
strangers; that there were also many strangers about 
Jerusalem; and that, by this judicious mixture of 
the signs in use amongst other nations, he rendered 
those of the temple more attractive to them, and 
better understood : that, in this way he flattered 
himself, many were brought to a full understanding 
respecting the true God, who never would otherwise 
have had their understandings opened to comprehend 
heavenly truth. And if the Queen of Sheba had 
shaken her head, and reminded him of some of those 
sayings which she came from the uttermost parts of 
the earth to hear, and in which he had warned against 
all such departures from the simplicity of the faith ; 
he might have answered, 4 0 ! I took a very narrow¬ 
minded view of matters then. I am now convinced 
that the one God is adored by all, though under dif¬ 
ferent figures ; whatever be the symbol, whatever the 
name, Jehovah, Jove, or Lord—it is the same God. 
The name is of little importance, or the mode of 
worship, if the intention of the worshipper be good.’ 

Solomon was spared to repent of his folly, and to 
leave many valuable admonitions ; not only warning 
all who came after him to beware of the Goddess of 
the Sidonians; but 4 to fear God and keep his com¬ 
mandments,’ and his alone ; not attempting to purify 
them in the fire of Moloch, nor to illustrate them by 
the light of Baal. 


2 



BAAL. 


275 


We must not leave the subject without a few, and 
they must necessarily be very brief, notices of the 
oracles, for which some of the groves, dedicated to 
Baal and his successors, were celebrated. 

Among the superstitions, which a proneness to 
alter and add, under the idea of improving, and a dis¬ 
taste for truth in its simplicity, gradually extracted 
out of the elements of early knowledge, and which 
cupidity eventually applied to its own base purposes, 
none was more universal, nor more influential on 
the customs and opinions of the world, than the idea 
that trees and groves were the chosen abodes of the 
Divinity. 

To three roots this idea may be distinctly traced. 
In the first place,—the omnipresence and omnipo¬ 
tence of God were figuratively taught in the univer¬ 
sality of light and heat. By-and-by the figure 
became the God, and gave rise to all that system of 
philosophy which substituted nature for nature’s 
God. In the second place,—the figurative use of 
trees and branches, as emblems of light or the God 
of light, was changed into a mystified use of the 
same emblems, which encouraged the idea that they 
were actually tenanted by the divinity. In the 
third place, — traditions regarding the Garden of 
Eden, and 4 one tree in the midst,’ as more sacred 
than the others, confirmed the impressions imbibed 
from the two preceding sources. 

These causes seem, very early, to have led to 
great veneration for certain trees and groves, as the 
residence of the Deity,—and as the chosen spots 
where his Spirit was communicated, and his will 


276 TELE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 

made known to man. A deity pervading and flow¬ 
ing through all nature might, reasonably, be supposed 
to emanate from branches. Hence, in the passage 
quoted in the preceding chapter, it is said, 4 My 
people ask counsel at their tree; and their branch, or 
shooter forth, declareth unto them ; they chose the 
shadow of these trees, because 4 the shaking out thereof 
is good.’ How strikingly this passage illustrates 
what is said of the Sibyl, that she shook the branch 
4 si posset excussisse Deum ’—endeavouring to shake 
the God out of it ! 

Man is ever ready to 4 intrude into those things 
which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his 
fleshly mind/ Not content with the beautifully 
prophetic and metaphoric use of trees and branches, 
by which he was divinely instructed at first, he 
fancied he could gain information of a more private 
and personal kind, at the same source. Thus we 
find every hero of old consulting the 4 light from the 
tree,’ or the grove, ere he undertook any great or 
hazardous enterprise—in the same manner as the 
4 lights and perfections’ w T ere consulted in the temple, 
concerning the great typical events in which the 
church of God was engaged. 

It is observable, however, that, although the 
heathens resembled the true church in establishing 
oracles; the names, rites, and ceremonies of the 
famous oracles of antiquity, seem rather to bear 
traces of traditions from Eden, than of imitations 
of the Urim and Thummim. The oracular places 
of note were not only called groves, but gardens. 
We hear of the garden of the Iiesperides ( Paradise ), 


BAAL. 


277 


with its sacred tree, and the Massylian ( quivering 
or shaking) priestess. The serpent Python {per¬ 
suasive or subtile) is slain by Apollo — the sun. 
We are told of the gardens of Adonis ( Eden ),—the 
story of Pharmacus (the blotting out of guilt by 
fire ),—and a thousand other acts and truths per¬ 
verted or allegorised, brought by Cadmus— that is, 
^«-Kedem, from the east, from the ancient place 
(as the word signifies), whence mankind spread out 
as from a common centre. The most celebrated 
of all these groves or gardens was Dodona (< do-Eden ), 
founded soon after the time of the flood of Deucalion 
(the washing away from on high), by a dove (Noah). 
Then we have the cave of Trophonius (Teraphon, 
the fiery witness ), which owed its celebrity to Saon 
(a parable or double meaning). To the same Saon 
most of the fables of antiquity owe their birth and 
their fame. He is the father of all the troops of 
Satyrs (hidden things or mysteries) with which the 
groves were peopled. 

By such puerile perversions of figurative teaching 
and absurd corruptions of traditions, did the ancients 
6 plant ideal groves where there never grew an acorn,’ 
and people real groves with monsters; which the 
moderns have sublimized into elves and fairies, 
dancing by moon-light, (speaking allegorically or 
poetically, in the presence of Titania, the queen of 
heaven,) under 4 the one tree in the midst.’ 

It has been a question amongst the learned, 
whether the ancient oracles were altogether priestly 
impositions, or whether diabolical inspiration was 
on some occasions permitted. There can be no 


278 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


question that, in whatever way the Spirit of God 
did work miraculously of old, the spirit of the devil 
was permitted to imitate it. The magicians of 
Egypt imitated many of the miracles of Moses and 
Aaron ; and as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, 
so false prophets and apostles did wonders resem¬ 
bling those effected by Paul and the other ambas¬ 
sadors of the New Testament. So long as miracles 
were necessary, so long was the adversary allowed 
to try the faith of those who witnessed them, by 
miracles in imitation of them ; but when the miracu¬ 
lous powers of the first witnesses to the Messiah 
ceased, and God’s word was completed, by which 
word alone he was henceforth to witness and speak 
to man, so no power was henceforth permitted to 
Satan but the power of perverting or corrupting that 
word. 

There can be nothing heterodox, therefore, in the 
supposition that, while God miraculously revealed 
his will by the Oracle in the Temple of Jerusalem, 
so long he might permit the voice of demons to be 
heard in Babylon or at Delphos. At the same time, 
there is every reason to think that most of the 
oracular responses had their origin in the easy 
credulity of a people, who actually imagined that a 
deity dwelt in a tree. There is no conceivable 
absurdity or imposition which may not be practised 
on the man whose diseased mind has converted a 
sign into a reality ; or who can so far forget that he 
is a reasonable creature, as to mistake a figurative 
illustration of a heavenly truth for the actual person 
or shrine of the God of heaven! 


BAAL. 


279 


The effect of the response or oracle was greatly 
heightened to the expectants, by the divinations or 
incantations which accompanied 4 the shaking of the 
divinity out of the tree.’ One of these ceremonies 
seems to be alluded to by the prophet, when he 
says, 4 and lo ! they put the branch to their nose.’ 
Fire, one of the emblems of God, was always 
present ; into which various articles were thrown, 
figurative, probably, in their nature like the compo¬ 
sition of the holy incense, and in imitation of the 
censers, carried into the holiest of all, when the 
oracle was consulted. 

The grand distinction between the true and all the 
false oracles was this, that in the true the voice was 
clear and explicit; the light, bright and luminous; 
in the false oracles the voice peeped and muttered, 
‘as of one who spoke out of the ground/ This is 
referred to by the prophet in former quotations, and 
in the following passage, which seems to have been 
spoken at a time when God refused to answer his 
people by Urim. 

4 Bind up the testimony : seal the law among my 
disciples. And I will wait upon the Lord that 
hidetli his face from the house of Jacob, and I will 
look for him/ 

****** 

4 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto 
them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards 
that peep and that mutter. Should not a people 
rather seek unto their God, to the testimony of the 
living ones, and not to the dead V 

One of the most singular customs attending these 


280 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


oracular divinations, was the introduction of the ser¬ 
pent. It is found to pervade every system of divina¬ 
tion throughout the world. That it owes its introduc¬ 
tion to the share it had in the first prophetic oracle, 
delivered in a gar den , there is every probability. It 
would not be easy now, to trace it from its first 
introduction, through the various meanings which it 
bore, as a hieroglyphic, in the various languages and 
dialects. The curious enquirer into this subject will 
find, amongst other singularities, that nahash , the 
name applied to the old serpent, enters into the roots 
of seven words in Hebrew, most of them expressive 
of acts of sorcery, viz., Divination, Silence, Dark¬ 
ness, Horror, a Lie, Meditation, or bubbling up after 
long reflection, and the Rehearsing of Coming 
Events. 

There are many other singular circumstances, 
attending the use of the symbol and of the word, in 
reference to sorcery; but to notice them would lead 
to more abstruse enquiries than would suit these 
pages. We may notice, however, that many have 
supposed, from the serpent being lifted up in the 
wilderness as a sign of healing, that its hieroglyphic 
use was the very opposite of mischief or subtilty. A 
little consideration will show the fallacy of this. 
The people were bit by fiery serpents. Moses is 
commanded to make a serpent of brass, and put it 
on a pole. When the people looked at it they saw 
their great enemy, the serpent, dead and nailed to a 
tree ; emblematical of the bruising of the head of its 
antitype, when the Son of Man was lifted up. The 
emblem killed and the emblem living were very 


13 A. A Jj • 


281 


different things. The serpent alive was the type of 
darkness and horror; the serpent killed was the 
emblem of peace and healing and cure. Hence the 
two serpents, killed by the infant Hercules, adorn 
the staff of Esculapius. 

If the children of Israel turned the brazen serpent, 
that symbol of health and peace, into an idol, little 
is it to be wondered at that the heathen nations 
should have lost the primitive ideas affixed to the 
hieroglyphic, dead or alive, or that they should have 
made it, in many places, an object of adoration. It 
is observable, that, when Josiah caused the brazen 
serpent which Moses had made to be removed, on 
account of the people worshipping it, ‘he said of it/ 
(not only that its original meaning had been lost, 
but) it had become, 4 Nehushtan,’ (Nah-Satan,) a 
seducer to the devil! 

Having been induced to glance, thus cursorily, 
at the subject of sorcery, through its connexion 
with the oracular groves and trees of Baal, we shall 
only farther notice that there were several kinds of 
oracles, in which divination was practised, with the 
object of prying into futurity. The first, and the 
most highly estimated, was that attendant on the 
oracles in the groves, where the priest or priestess 
was supposed to receive immediate inspiration from 
the god inhabiting the tree. The second, was the 
consultation of Daemons who uttered, or were sup¬ 
posed to utter, the response from the ground. 
Hence the name Daemon (responses from the grave*') 
Those who practised these arts were alluded to in 
this passage, 4 a people that walk after their own 


282 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


thoughts, that sacrificeth in gardens, and burnetii 
incense on altars of brick (altars formed by the fire 
they worshipped and consulted), who remain among 
the graves (Cabirim—the names of the dead ;—hence, 
those who followed these practices were called Ca- 
biri), and lodge amongst the branches.’ To this class 
the witch of Endor seems to have belonged. It does 
not appear certain, from the account of what passed 
when Saul consulted her, whether she could have 
made any resemblance of Samuel appear to the king 
through the instrumentality of evil spirits; for she 
was frustrated in her intentions, by the 4 Elohim (gods) 
ascending out of the earthby whom, it seems evi¬ 
dent, that Samuel himself in the body was introduced; 
for Samuel himself speaks, and says, 4 Why hast thou 
disquieted me, to bring me up V This phrase, and 
another expression made use of by him, 4 thou and 
thy sons to-morrow shall be with me,’ leave no room 
to doubt that the body of Samuel was resuscitated 
and brought up. But whether it were the spirit, or 
the body of Samuel, or both re-united, it is perfectly 
clear, by the woman 4 crying out/ when she saw him, 
that if a daemon had any power or permission to 
have assisted her in her incantations, it could only 
have done so by some illusion, and not by any con¬ 
trol it could have exercised over the bodies or spirits 
of the departed. 

Whether the practisers of witchcraft, sorcery, or 
divination, could or could not 4 raise the devil/ or 
through his instrumentality make shadowy forms 
pass before the devotees; the ceremonies attending 
the art were accompanied either by the hieroglyphical 


BAAL. 


283 


emblems of the grove, or by the circles and other 
hieroglyphics of the heavens. All such figures, from 
the respect paid to them, through the causes we 
have already investigated, were calculated to have a 
powerful effect on the imaginations of the anxious 
enquirers, and must have completely predisposed 
them to become the dupes either of men or spirits. 

Whatever form, therefore, divination took, it seems 
all to have originated in a perversion of prophetic 
figures. Events of the most amazing influence on 
the destinies of the human race, were not only anti¬ 
cipated, but had been oracularly prophesied of, and 
were figuratively testified of in the works of creation. 
So soon as the great subject of all prophecy was lost 
sight of, or obscured, immediately the signs were 
4 privately interpreted ' and applied, as in the case of 
the heavenly signs at Babylon, to the fortunes of 
individuals. To this the enemy of the truth doubt¬ 
less lent his aid, so far as he was permitted. He 
thereby not only confirmed the world in error, but 
darkened the meaning of the oracle at Jerusalem ; 
the figurative design of which could scarcely have 
been obscured if other oracles had not sometimes 
appeared to pry successfully into future events. 


284 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

{Tice Way of the Heathen.') 

GODS. 

We use this title, in distinction from idols or images, 
that we may, under it, notice more particularly than 
has yet been done, the first step in the gradual 
transformation of hieroglyphics into deities. The 
land of Egypt offers the best field for this; as there 
were judgments executed upon her gods at a period 
prior to any intimation of figures of wood or stone, 

4 graven by art or man’s device,’ having had divine 
honours paid to them. 

The similarity has already been pointed out, be¬ 
tween the pyramids (pyr-omed, an edifice dedicated 
to fire) and the Migdol, or great building, on the 
plains of Chaldea. Such a similarity implies an 
early coincidence between the two religions—a coin¬ 
cidence confirmed by the whole of the Egyptian 
Mythology. The difference between the religion of 
Chaldea and that of Egypt, seems to have been this: 
in Chaldea and the neighbouring nations the heavens 
were the great object of attraction; and all their 


GODS. 


285 


mystic studies, accordingly, were of an astrological 
cast. In Egypt, the genius of the people being of a 
still more mystical and gloomy shade, there were 
combined with their astrological hieroglyphics, a vast 
array of symbols of a peculiar kind; arising partly 
from local circumstances, and partly from the earnest 
attention which they seem, from the earliest ages, to 
have bestow r ed on the subject of the resurrection of 
the body. 

When Misraim broke off from the Babel union, 
and departed into Egypt, he carried with him, of 
course, the same symbols that were recognised on 
the plain of Sliinar. The light, the heat, and the 
fire, were, with all, the leading metaphors; and the 
sun, moon, and constellations, the hieroglyphics 
illustrative of them. While, therefore, the Easterns 
had their Baal and Ashteroth, the king and queen of 
heaven, the Egyptians had Osiris ( the enricher ), the 
principle of light and heat, of which the sun was the 
chief symbol in creation; and Isis, ( the going out 
and the coming back of that light) of which the 
moon was the type in the heavens. Thus, when they 
represented the sun and the moon, hieroglyphically, 
the figures of Osiris and Isis found a place in their 
temples. 

But Isis was, with them, a type not only of the 
moon, but of the earth. The cause of this involves a 
curious peculiarity in their religion. 

It has been already noticed, that their minds 
seemed to take a strong bent towards enquiries 
regarding a future state, and the resurrection of the 
body. No nation ever paid so much attention to 


286 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


the preservation of the body after death, or were so 
careful in the wrapping up. The resemblance, 
indeed, between a mummy, or embalmed body, and 
the chrysalis, is most striking. As all their acts 
were symbolical, there is evidently in this the type 
of the same thing which is preached in the type of 
the chrysalis; a figure of the folding up, or first 
change of the body, noticed at large in a former 
chapter. 

Isis seems to have been the deity which presided 
over this separate state. Her name is Is-Is (or ish- 
ish, light-light ), the shining forth ; then the pause ; 
and then the double , or shining forth the second 
time. When she is shut up, or embalmed and 
wrapped up, she then represents the earth in the 
absence of light and heat. The dust is returned to 
dust. She goes to seek Osiris. In that search we 
have to follow her to the shades below. There, we 
hear of Typhon ( burning ) ; and then it is that the 
‘ weeping for Thammuz , takes place. While this is 
going on, mention is made of Anubis ( the foretellhig 
of the budding forth again ), preparatory to the in¬ 
troduction of Ptha ( the opener). This Ptha, the 
opener of the grave, is the great mysterious person 
of the drama, with the incommunicable name, who 
alone can prevail to open the secret of the grave. 
Hence Isis said, ‘ No mortal should ever lift her 
veil/ By the agency of the immortal Ptha, Osiris 
is restored ; and the worshippers are raised from the 
depth of distress, indicated by the wildest ullaloo, 
to the most exuberant expressions of triumphant 
joy; accompanied by all the hieroglyphical branches 


GODS. 


287 


and other signs, indicative of the re-appearance of 
light. 

Such appears to have been the leading principle 
of the earliest Egyptian religious ceremonies; in 
which the light and fire were taken as emblems of 
life to come, and in which those emblems were 
personified, and identified with the sun and moon. 
We may easily see how, at first, such a system may 
have been nothing but symbolical, and may have 
preached the very doctrines which gave life, light, 
and joy, as formerly ascertained, in the Path of the 
Just. 

But this impersonation of the figures led, as in 
other nations, and beyond all other nations, to a host 
of figures, countless in number and monstrous in 
their combinations, borrowed from the sky, the 
earth, and the waters. Every conjunction of the 
sun or moon with a star or a constellation, became, 
first, an event in the lives of Osiris and Isis; then, 
the conjunction was marked by combining the sign 
of the constellation with human figures; and by- 
and-by, when the figurative key was lost, every such 
combination became a new God in their Mythology. 
Peculiar local circumstances, too, introduced many 
singular additions. The fecundity of Egypt was 
so dependent on the Nile, that their feasts and re¬ 
joicings were regulated by the rise and fall of that 
river. Lamentations for Isis were mixed with 
mournings for deficiency in the rise of the fruitful 
river; and rejoicings for Osiris were mingled with 
shouts, as they saw the flood attain the desired 
mark. Hence other hieroglyphical signs, connected 


288 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


with the rise of the river, were added to a line of 
figures, which already stretched out to the crack of 
doom ; and, ere long, the river itself, by aid of its 
hieroglyphs, attained to a place among the gods. 

To attempt, now, to unravel such a mass of mon¬ 
sters, which had even in the days of Moses in¬ 
creased to an extent that drew down the Divine 
judgments, would be as vain as, even were it prac¬ 
ticable, it would be unprofitable. We shall only 
look at a few more of those hieroglypliical imper¬ 
sonations, which identify their primitive religion 
with 4 the one lip ; and then consider, briefly, the 
nature of the judgments which Jehovah executed on 
4 all the gods of Egypt.’ 

We have ascertained that light, or fire, was the 
primary element in their system. They had one 
city, in particular, dedicated to its worship, or elu¬ 
cidation, called On, ( divination ). It would thus ap¬ 
pear that divination, or enquiry into future events, 
was with them, as with the other fire professors, 
connected with their religious ceremonies. Among 
them, also, the cherubic figures were known ; al¬ 
though they were no longer used, simply, as em¬ 
blems or doctrines, but were dedicated to the fire. 
The ox, the lion, and the eagle, which in the cheru¬ 
bim were seen unhurt in the fire, were, with them, 
dedicated to the sun, and were all used as emblems 
of the light. Hence, the Israelites said, 4 they could 
not sacrifice (not the abominations, but) the dedi¬ 
cated things of the Egyptians before their eyes/ 

We see, also, amongst them, other curious uses 
and combinations of the cherubic figures, sadly 


GODS. 


289 


mutilated indeed, but still indicating some tradition 
of an earlier and better use. The Sphinx (Tsphana, 
the secret or riddle) had part of a lion and part of a 
bullock : the body on which they were engrafted 
being that of a woman instead of a man. Here 
w’as Nature, or materialism, substituted for what 
the cherubim, in their pure form, inculcated. There 
w’ere other Sphinxes, in which the head of the eagle 
appears, and wings are added. Stories are told of a 
Phoenix (Phcenim, the faces , a name often applied 
in Scripture to the cherubim), which is burnt, but 
rises from its own ashes, amidst the flames. There 
was Serapis (Seraph), with the bull, one of the che¬ 
rubic ensigns, as his chosen emblem ; and wings pro¬ 
jecting from a ball of fire, were the protecting Numen 
( covering ) over every consecrated porch. 

While the Priests of Egypt (the first-born, as in 
other nations) were busy adding figure to figure, to 
elucidate the truth, as they would no doubt consider 
it, the hand of Heaven interfered, and, by the nature 
of the judgments, testified against this growing and 
dangerous superstition; against the error also, of 
ascribing to signs the power which belongs to the 
Most High alone. 

The rod or branch, one of the hieroglyphs of light, 
and one of their prime agents in divination, is in 
Moses’ hands, converted into a serpent. The magi¬ 
cians, or fire priests of Egypt, were in too close union 
with the old serpent, not to be able to imitate this 
miracle; but Aaron’s rod swallowed up theirs. 
They were thus taught, that the God of Israel might 
permit, for a time, the wiles of the serpent; but 

u 


290 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


would, eventually, defeat them; nor permit any 
divination or enchantment to prevail against his 
decrees, or the people of his choice. 

The waters of their river, now held as little less 
than a god, are turned to blood. The vile animals 
which that river produced, and which were used, if 
not to represent the Godhead, to betoken his attri¬ 
butes, fill their cities and fields, till the land stinks 
with them. 

The dust of that earth, the fruitfulness of which 
made even it obtain a personification and a place 
among their sacred things, is turned into insects ; the 
name of which (Cunnin) seems to indicate that the 
judgment was against the hieroglyphs of the pro¬ 
fession called Cliiun, in which cakes, bearing that 
name, were offered to Isis, the queen of heaven. 

So hatefully is truth mixed up with error, in the 
animal forms pourtrayed in their temples, that Oreb 
(a mixture —translated in our Bible swarms of flies , 
the two last words being supplementary), is sent 
grievously on them. It would appear, in this judg¬ 
ment, as if Heaven had caused such creatures to 
swarm as nature had never brought forth, till their 
own monstrous mixture of doctrine called for such a 
miracle. 

Their cattle, and in a particular manner those 
which were dedicated, and were sumptuously fed 
and lodged, were struck with diseases, which made 
them loathsome even in the ditches. 

The Fire,—not the ashes, as it is translated,—but 
the burning coals of the perpetual fire (mis-trans- 
lated furnace ), kept up to Baal and Moloch,—the fire 


GODS. 


291 


from this altar is sprinkled towards heaven , towards 
the figures of their gods, and instead of purifying , it 
breaks out into grievous sores upon man and beast, 
which attack even the priests employed in keeping 
that fire alive. 

Hail mingled with fire—to show that even their 
god had not power sufficient to melt the congealed 
particles which were mixed with him—hail and fire 
run through the land. But, being servants of him 
who maketh his ministers a flame of fire, they keep 
within the limits prescribed to them. 

Locusts are sent, or rather a species of beetle. 
That animal was highly honoured by the devotees 
of the Sphinx, or the materialists, (for every sect 
found toleration in Egypt,) being, it was supposed, a 
self-producer . But, instead of being self-produced, 
it came with an east wind, and ate up every rem¬ 
nant of fruitfulness in the land. 

The light they fell prostrate to, becomes thick 
darkness, darkness that might be felt: whilst the 
children of Israel have it in their dwellings, not as a 
god, but as a gift from its Creator. 

One plague more on the gods themselves has to 
be executed, ere judgment reaches their ministers. 
The Israelites ask , (they do not borrow, for ‘ the man 
Moses was mighty in the land,’) the Israelites ask 
their consecrated things—their household gods of 
gold and silver—their jewelled representations of 
the sacred emblems, and the Egyptians give them ! 
They give them those little images, or representa¬ 
tions, or symbols of sacred things, which, in every 
idolatrous church, constitute the riches and the 


292 THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 

jewels of the worshippers; and the gods of Egypt 
are spoiled, the shrines of Diana, of Isis, are stripped 
bare! 

The last bolt of Divine vengeance has now to be 
shot. The first-born, the dedicated both of man 
and beast, are struck by the destroying angel; and 
there is not a house, nor a temple, in which the cry 
of lamentation is not heard ! 

We said it was the last,—and still one judgment 
remains to be executed. The doctrine of the resur¬ 
rection, which, at first, led to that decent attention 
to the relics of the dead, which is comely in every 
nation and in every age, had been carried the length 
of a seeming expectation that Osiris and Isis would 
not only come to life themselves, but reanimate all 
who were found encased in their sacred emblems. 
On this account the Egyptians seem to have pre¬ 
served, with so much care, the remains of all their 
friends ; and the bodies of those who held a promi¬ 
nent place in the public eye were guarded with no 
common anxiety. Among these, their benefactor 
Joseph occupied a conspicuous place. He had been 
embalmed and put in a soros, or sarcophagus, in 
Egypt. He, knowing too well the prejudices of the 
people, gave no directions that immediately after his 
death he should be carried to Machpelah. He 
instructed them to wait until the time, which he 
prophetically foresaw would arrive, when they would 
leave Egypt, with a high hand and an outstretched 
arm. They were then to take his bones with them ; 
to show the Egyptians that it was not through 
Joseph’s connexion, in embalming, with Osiris and 


GODS. 


293 


Isis, that he looked for the resurrection, but through 
the power of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of 
Jacob. 

The time Joseph prophesied of now arrived. A 
king arose ‘who knew not Joseph:’ he knew him 
not in his true character, and therefore oppressed his 
kinsmen; but it was not at all inconsistent, at the 
same time, to 4 garnish the sepulchre of their 
ancestor. The Egyptians have to be taught that 
God disapproves of this species of idolatry. Joseph 
had beforehand known so well the fate of his bones 
in Egypt, that 4 swearing he had sworn’ his brethren 
to take them up. So, when Moses leaves Egypt, he 
took away by violence (as the word signifies) the 
bones of Joseph, out of their stately mansion to the 
more humble Machpelah, of which the Egyptians 
had not only heard , but which they had seen, when 
they accompanied Joseph to the funeral of his father, 
and mourned with him there thirty days. 

It may be thought that we have been drawing on 
imagination for this scene, attending the Exodus 
from Egypt. But it is surely a very wonderful cir¬ 
cumstance, and one which, taken in connexion with 
the scripture record concerning the bones of Joseph, 
warrants every word we have written,—that, four 
thousand years after the Exodus, we should have 
the testimony of a respected and credible witness, 
(Dr. E. D. Clark,) that a pyramid, the most holy of 
all the holy places, had, at some very remote period, 
been forced open, and a body stolen from the soros 
or stone coffin in which it had been secured ! We 
refer to the irresistible arguments of Dr. Clark him- 


294 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


self to prove that this could have been no other but 
the body of Joseph; seeing that neither the Egyp¬ 
tians themselves, nor an invading army, would have 
coveted such a booty; and, seeing that there are, not 
merely traditions of such an event among them, but 
direct allusions to it in their religious ceremonies and 
observances. 

What a sad but striking picture of human nature 
is thus disclosed to us ! The Egyptian priests, so 
far from being cured of their fondness for multipli¬ 
city of altars and of gods by the judgment which had 
been executed, find, in that very judgment, an argu¬ 
ment to fix their idolatry more deeply in the hearts 
of the people. There seems every reason to believe, 
from what Dr. Clark and other travellers have 
related, that the abstraction of Joseph’s body was 
represented to the people as the ablation of the body 
of Osiris himself. It would, thus, be presumed, that 
the whole had been a preconcerted scheme of the 
Israelites to obtain the body, and deprive them of 
their most sacred relics. Osiris was thus made more 
of a divinity than ever, and the name of Joseph 
became associated with his, at their festivals and in 
their religious ceremonies. 

In reading of the judgments which the Lord exe¬ 
cuted upon all the gods of Egypt, it is not necessary 
to presuppose that the Egyptians were idolaters in 
the common acceptation of the term; that is, that they 
actually supposed the emblems to be gods, or that 
they set up certain figures of stone, and supposed 
them inhabited by the divinity. There are several 
reasons against such a supposition. When Joseph 


GODS. 


295 


was carried into Egypt, and rose there to be second 
only to Pharaoh, he married a daughter of the priest 
of On; which it is scarcely credible he would have 
done had that priest been engaged in an open profes¬ 
sion of idolatry. Joseph’s situation at the court, 
also, gave him great opportunity of reproving and 
correcting the national religion, had it been of this 
nature; of which, however, there is no intimation. 
Coupling these circumstances with the silence of Scrip¬ 
ture on the subject, we are warranted to believe that 
the religion of Egypt, at the time of the Exodus, was 
not one in which stocks and stones were set up 
as deities; but one in which they were multiplying 
and corrupting symbols so rapidly, as to obscure the 
truth of God, changing it into a lie; and, in many 
cases, ascribing powers to the agents in creation, which 
were alone to be attributed to the Lord God of Hosts. 
Unauthorised additions, even for the ostensible pur¬ 
pose of elucidation and improvement, and multiplica¬ 
tion of emblems, are as much corruptions of the truth 
of God, as the setting up of stocks and stones as his 
representatives. They form the first and great step 
towards that species of idolatry, or image worship, 
which forms the subject of the next chapter. 


296 


CHAPTER XXV. 

{The Way of the Heathen.') 

IDOLS. 

When the sun and moon were personified, or repre¬ 
sented hieroglyphically by human figures, as in 
Egypt, (and it is probable also in Chaldea and other 
countries,) every conjunction, as formerly noticed, of 
the emblems in the heavens with the figures pour- 
trayed there, became an event in the history of the 
ideal personages on earth. Those events were hie- 
roglyphically recorded, by connecting the original 
figure with the sign or figure in juxtaposition with 
it. Thus a number of ideal personages arose, all 
4 children of the sun.' 

Besides this origin for the numerous progeny of 
the sun and moon, there is no doubt, from circum¬ 
stances already repeatedly adduced in the course of 
this enquiry, that there were some truths, acknow¬ 
ledged by the true worshippers, which were hierogly¬ 
phically taught in the heavens. These hieroglyphs 
were generally in animal forms ; and as correspond¬ 
ing forms were used in God’s own revelations to 


IDOLS. 


297 


illustrate his truths, we are warranted to assume, 
that, at the time of the one lip, when those truths 
were professedly believed in by mankind generally, 
the signs representing them would he generally 
adopted, and generally understood. 

The danger lay in multiplying the images, and in 
losing the key. Both corruptions arose. The figures 
were multiplied according to the taste of the various 
nations. The key was gradually lost. The first 
effect of this, was to lead the worshippers to think 
of some secret or indefinable sanctity about the em¬ 
blem; then to ascribe supernatural powers to it; and, 
finally, to deify it. 

It does not appear, however, that in any ancient 
nation, however deep it sank in idolatry, that the 
images or idols set up, in which the hieroglyphics 
of their religion were combined, were universally 
considered as the god himself. By many they were 
considered merely as symbols still. Even those 
who fancied that the image was a god, or that a 
god resided within it, must generally have seen a 
reason for the form in which the god was made or 
pourtrayed. Only the lowest of the low in intellect, 
education, or habits, could ever have imagined that 
their god had a superfluous number of feet, or hands, 
or arms; that he had the head of a hawk or of an 
elephant, the breast of a woman, or the tail of a fish. 
These were emblems of the attributes of the god they 
had formed or fancied to themselves. 

But whether the worshippers fancied the com¬ 
bined form to be the god himself, or a representa¬ 
tion of the attributes they ascribed to him, it was 


298 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


equally a changing of the glory of God, according 
to the fancy or caprice of man. The grand error 
lay in changing representations of truths, or ideas, 
into representations or emblems of the Godhead. 
Thus they changed the glory of the incorruptible 
God into an image made like to corruptible man, 
and to four-footed beasts and creeping things. 

Most nations seem to have made gods of their 
own out of the hieroglyphical elements they pos¬ 
sessed. Others, like the Greeks and Romans, stole 
them ready made. But, whether original or bor¬ 
rowed, it is most interesting to trace in the names 
or hieroglyphics bestowed on them, so much of the 
primitive ideas ; borrowed from those hieroglyphics 
which we have already found entered so largely 
into the early instruction, in divine matters, revealed 
to man. We have found the same early worship in 
the West of Europe and in the centre of Asia,— 
from which worship the Thor, thunderer, of the 
North, and the Jupiter Tonans of the South, had, in 
process of times, 4 a local habitation and a name.’ 
On the low sands of Persia, and the high plains of 
Peru, the same symbols appear;—and the Virgins 
of the sun are sisters of the vestals at Rome, who 
kept alive the sacred lamps in honour of the goddess 
of fire. 

As our object in this chapter is, however, to point 
out some of the primitive ideas contained in the 
forms or names of Idols, properly so called; and 
as the mythology of the Greeks and Romans will 
claim separate notice, we propose, here, turning to 
that part of the world where image worship, even 


IDOLS. 


299 


in our own day, is carried to the greatest height; 
and to judge, by a few investigations into the 
mythology of India, whether we are justified in 
ascribing to all idol worship a hieroglyphical origin. 

The mythological system in India is so extensive, 
so perplexed and ramified, that it is well known 
neither Sir William Jones 5 admirable works, nor 
Maurice's laborious volumes, have done more than 
introduce us to the threshold. We can attempt, 
therefore, nothing bordering on an analysis of it : 
but only point to some leading objects as proving its 
parentage. 

The idol, certainly, at the head of the system, is 
the trinitarian combination of Brahma, Seeva, and 
Veeshnu—Brahma ( the great creator )—Seeva ( the 
silent icorker )—Ye (and) Ishnu (the man with us). 

Of all the extant idols of antiquity, this is cer¬ 
tainly the most interesting and remarkable, differing 
in no respect from the revelation made to the people 
of God respecting the Elohim. The only shade of 
difference consists in this : while the Hebrews dwelt 
more on the circumstance that the Saviour was to 
be a God (Immanu-el—God with us), the ancient 
Hindu theology reversed the mode of expression, 
and said Ish-nu— the man with us. Still that man 
was, even according to them, to be God incarnate. 

This Ishnu is also styled Budha (Phudah, the 
Redeemer ), Pagod or Pagog ( the Intercessor ), and 
Foe or Foah (the breather , or life-giver.) Under 
these names he is worshipped through an immense 
extent of country and a countless population, under 
the figure of a man sitting and meditating. The 


300 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


amazing number of small casts and representations 
of this figure, which are found throughout the East, 
indicates that they are used there as crucifixes are by 
the Romish church. From the attitude of the figure 
it may be supposed to be intended to remind the 
worshippers of his incarnation. 

But this Ishnu or Veeshnu, as well as Brahma 
and Seeva, assume various forms, according to the 
offices and works they have to perform. Indeed, 
when we look narrowly into the Hindoo Mythology, 
we shall find that there is not an act or thought 
attributed to any one of their gods, which is not 
symbolised and represented by some figure or figures. 
Hence the countless number of their deities, and 
the endless forms in which they appear or are pour- 
trayed ; and hence no two authors agree in their 
description of them. 

Amidst such a mass of confusion, there are occa¬ 
sional glimpses to be obtained of the foundation on 
which this gorgeous mass of idolatry was reared, 
by analysing the names of some of the hieroglyphics. 
Their great first cause, Brahma, on calling the uni¬ 
verse into existence, made a goddess Bowaney (un¬ 
derstanding, or wisdom). This is a personification 
or hieroglyphical representation of the saying, that 
c Hod by wisdom made the heavens.’ From this 
Bowaney sprung Brimha (Brahma again, under 
another form), Seeva, and Veeshnu: another allegory, 
importing that the Wisdom of God is seen in the 
threefold revelation he has made of himself. 

The Bowaney again is seen on the back of a 
bullock. She is represented with eight arms and 


IDOLS. 


301 


hands; one of which has hold of the horn (the 
emblem of the power) of the devil (a black figure, 
called Messaroor, the oppressive rebel), who has cut 
off the head of the bullock on which Bowaney rides; 
while she, with another arm, is thrusting a javelin 
through the body of the demon. The type of the 
destruction of Evil by Wisdom, is in this very evi¬ 
dent ; while the decapitation of the bullock may be 
meant to represent the sacrifices which were to take 
place, ere that was effected. 

Veeshnu goes through many adventures, under 
many names and aspects. We see him as Bal 
Kreeshen (the Baal, Hercules, Apollo, or Sun of their 
mythology), attended by nine Gopia, or Muses. In 
this character he undergoes, like the western Her¬ 
cules, many labours ; twelve in particular, each of 
which, of course, adds a new hieroglyphic, that is, 
a new god, to the calendar. If there were any 
doubt of these twelve labours referring to the pas¬ 
sage of the sun through the signs of the zodiac, 
it is removed by a set of Indian cards, now before 
us, 144 in number. These cards are of ivory, 
beautifully painted in enamel. There are twelve 
suites , each suit having a sign of the zodiac painted 
on it, from one to twelve times; and these signs, as 
mentioned in a former chapter, nearly correspond 
with the modern European division of the zodiac. 
The court cards have Veeshnu, on horseback, going 
forth at the head of every several sign; and, what 
is perhaps more worthy of notice than any other 
circumstance, is, that in every case, he is attended 
by his wife Lutzmee ( interpretation /) 


302 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


In other representations we see Veeshnu, attended 
by the same female, resting the golden mace on the 
ground (in that respect copying, or setting an ex¬ 
ample to, the western Hercules); and in another of 
his four hands he holds aloft a flower, just budding 
into life, an emblem of the resurrection. At other 
times he is an infernal god, dark in colour, having 
gone, like Isis to seek Osiris, and Orpheus in quest 
of Eurydice, to the shades below. Under another 
form he appears as Cundoba ( the powerful Word), 
seated on a white horse , with a sword in one hand. 
His wife is still with him, on horseback; under a 
different name, however, Malsee; but still bearing 
the same meaning ; viz. the interpretation of a pro¬ 
verb or figure . 

Many others of these figures might be noticed, in 
which, with no other key than the, probably, much 
corrupted names, brought to this country by Euro¬ 
peans, we can obtain glimpses of an evident syste¬ 
matic mode of hieroglyphic teaching in their original 
formation. Even these glimpses are curious; and, 
we have no doubt, would receive remarkable con¬ 
firmation, if we had any means of ascertaining the 
Sanscrit names; not so much of the figures them¬ 
selves, as of the insignia they bear. As one in¬ 
stance of the interest which attaches to the names 
of some of these gods in Sanscrit, it is mentioned 
on some Sanscrit brazen tablets, presented to the 
Literary Society of Bombay, that ‘ in ancient times 
there was a demi-god, named Iimuta Vahana {he 
dies , and behold he lives), who, for the sake of 
another, gave his life a sacrifice.’ 


IDOLS. 


303 


There are some circumstances relative to these 
hieroglyphical representations generally, which seem 
to deserve attention. 

In the first place, taken in connexion even with 
the vague and corrupted Hindu traditions, there is 
evident reference made in them to some of the great 
primeval truths; and certainly if not a direct attempt 
to represent the incarnation, something amazingly 
like it. But, 

In the second place; although the triune figure 
from Elephanta, already referred to, is doubtless 
meant to convey some idea of Trinity in Unity, and 
may therefore be called a representation of God; 
yet the number of heads, arms, and other members, 
given to the representations in general, intermixed 
as they are with the heads and limbs of animals, 
will scarcely permit the supposition that the first 
pourtrayers of such figures actually intended them 
for representations of deities. When the key to 
them became corrupted, or lost, they may have 
become gods in vulgar estimation ; but the original 
combination was evidently hieroglyphical or doc¬ 
trinal. 

In the third place. The number of the heads and 
arms usually given, is curious. The heads are in 
general four; and the hands or arms eight . Now 
the heads of the great antediluvian hieroglyphic were 
four; and, as it is described to have had the ap¬ 
pearance of a hand under the wings, the hands 
would also either be four or eight, as the figure was 
single or double. 

On looking westward from Ararat, then, we find 


304 


THE WAY OP THE HEATHEN. 


that all the colonies, who removed in that direction, 
had one custom in religious matters. When they 
wanted to express a religious opinion, they en¬ 
grafted the representation of it upon the body of a 
man, in the same manner as the truth itself was 
symbolized at Eden. They varied the engraftings 
to suit their own taste and ideas. Having lost the 
true meaning of the Edenic symbols, or disliking 
them, they were sparing of the brute hieroglyphics; 
and doubtless thought that a number of human 
heads, or the head of the sagacious elephant, was 
much more expressive of wisdom, watchfulness, and 
sagacity. 

Yet the cherubic forms were never lost sight of; 
although they entered but sparingly into those 
hieroglyphical representations of doctrines, which 
have since become gods . As these forms had ap¬ 
peared in the fire , they were, in the East as well as 
in Egypt, dedicated to the fire, and held sacred. 
The ox was held so in a particular manner, for they 
have not only dedicated him and the cow, but 
deified them. The man became Baal, Moloch, 
Kreeshnu, or the sun ; and the lion, the eagle, and 
the bullock or its horns, alternately expressed, 
hieroglypliically, the light of the sun, of the moon, or 
of the lesser luminaries. 

There were also other mythological figures in 
which the cherubic forms were very distinctly re¬ 
tained. The Griffon (revolving faces) had the hoof 
of the ox, the body of a lion, and the head and 
wings of an eagle. The head of a lion, united to 
that of a man, forms one of the penates or house- 

2 


IDOLS. 


305 


hold gods of India ; some of which we have seen 
beautifully carved in ivory. 

Even the fairy legends which are brought from 
the East, have their rich embellishments copiously 
intermixed with the most ancient sacred emblems. 
What are popularly called the adventures of their 
genii or fairies, are often the hieroglyphical and 
symbolical history of the transmutations of their 
gods. We have now before us one of these gor¬ 
geous volumes, purporting to contain a tale, common 
both to Persia and Hindostan ; in which, among 
other illustrations, an old and a young man are 
seated on an open palanquin, borne through the air 
by four zcinged creatures , each of them having the 
form of a man, with the head of a lion on one, the 
head of an ox on another, the head of an eagle on a 
third, and the head of a dog on the fourth. 

We cannot bid adieu to the clime of the sun, with 
all its richness of imagery (however polluted now, 
alas ! and debased), without a parting glance at two 
of their most renowned sages, Confucius and Zo¬ 
roaster ; called, in the eastern tongues, Confutsee and 
Zerdusht. We are afraid it will break the thread of 
many a fine-spun theory respecting these worthies, 
and spoil many an embryo dissertation on the ex¬ 
cellence of their precepts, if the meaning of their 
names is whispered; for, if that meaning is to be 
trusted, we suspect the existence of such philoso¬ 
phers, at any period, becomes a very dubious matter. 
Both names signify ‘ dancing forth into joy at the 
appearance of the light ’—a meaning which, it is to 
be feared, being applicable to both, identifies both; 

x 


306 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


and establishes the terms as significant, not of two 
sages, but of the universality, at one period, in Asia, 
of that worship in which light and fire were the 
predominant emblems. 

One word more with Zoroaster, and we have done. 
His great and leading doctrine was the metempsy¬ 
chosis, or transmigration of the souls of men into the 
bodies of animals. When we strip this, as we have 
done the philosopher himself, of the halo of anti¬ 
quity, we find in it neither more nor less than a 
misinterpretation and misunderstanding of their own 
hieroglyphics. In those hieroglyphics the same 
figure appears under various animal forms, accord¬ 
ing to the doctrine or idea which that form was 
intended to inculcate ; and the mutation of an 
opinion became the transmigration of a soul! It is 
difficult to know whether to laugh or to weep over 
the cogitations of the wise Greeks on the doctrine of 
the metempsychosis. 


307 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

(The Way of the Heathen.') 

THE MYSTERIES. 

Turning from the eastern to the western world, and 
enquiring what use the Greeks had made, or what 
traces remained among them, of the instruction 
carried from the east by their forefathers, we are 
naturally led to the groves of Eleusis for an answer 
to the enquiry. Although silence stands at the 
threshold, and the votaries have not dared to tell us 
all the secrets of her chambers, they have revealed 
enough to satisfy us, that the ‘ hidden wisdom’ of these 
groves was drawn from a branch of the same stream 
which at first enriched the east, but which was defiled 
and polluted whithersoever the waters went out. 

The first circumstance which must arrest our atten¬ 
tion, on entering the sacred groves of Greece, is the 
division, as in all other ages and countries, of the 
mythological mysteries, as well as temples, into two 
or more departments, the exoteric and esoteric; the 
open display of figurative emblems, and the secret 
development of these emblems to the initiated. 


308 


TIIE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


The ceremonies attending the Eleusinian mysteries 
were multiform; but they seem, generally speaking, 
to have been in three progressive stages. In the pre¬ 
paratory stage, the neophytes prepared themselves by 
fastings and ablutions; in the second stage, various 
figures and forms were exhibited; and in the third 
and last step of the instructive process, the aspirants 
were initiated, privately, into the hidden meaning or 
spirit of the symbols displayed. Hence they were 
called Teletee; a word signifying not only three but 
perfection. 

When we compare this mode of initiation with 
the plan of instruction followed by an inspired 
writer, in developing the mysteries or figures of the 
Old Testament, we shall be struck with the simila¬ 
rity. In the first place, he prepares his readers by 
divesting them of prejudiced views, for the free exer¬ 
cise of their understanding as men. He then exhibits 
to them the carnal ordinances or symbols of the Old 
Testament, and then says, 4 let us go on to perfec¬ 
tion ; that is, he proposes to take them within the 
veil , into the holiest of all, and to expound the spirit 
and meaning of the symbols, exhibited there and in 
the outer court. 

We do not mean to say that Paul in this imitated 
the Greek philosophers—far from it. But we think 
the coincidence and similarity amply deserving our 
attention; inasmuch as it tends to establish and 
verify the views we have laid before the reader, re¬ 
garding the mode of instruction, invariably followed, 
throughout the world, and among the people and 
church of God, previous to the coming of the 


THE MYSTERIES. 


309 


Messiah. In all and in both it was essentially 
figurative and hieroglyphical. The difference be¬ 
tween them consisted in this. In the church of 
God, under the Old Testament, they were hedged in 
by the law, ‘ shut up unto the faith which was 
afterwards to be revealed.’ Into the holiest of all 
went the high priest alone , once every year, and not 
without blood; the Holy Ghost thus testifying, 
that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made 
manifest. By this, by many injunctions, by the 
ritual and by the words of the prophets, the Spirit 
of God strove with that rebellious people, and spoke 
to them of another day. When that day, the day of 
the Messiah, came, the Apostles went boldly into the 
holiest of all, now laid open: and preached unto 
them, from these figures, Jesus and the resurrection; 
those figures which the Spirit of God had been 
preserving, in the temple, from the sacrilegious 
hands and imaginations of man; who would have 
perverted them, as he did every figure or truth 
which was revealed or delivered to him. 

Among the gentile nations, on the other hand, the 
same figures became debased and corrupted. They 
changed the truth of God. They still used symbols, 
but these symbols so altered and enlarged in number, 
that the figurative design was lost sight of. Instead 
of being looked upon as open public testimonies, to 
a great event looked forward to, and to be desired of 
all nations, they were changed into mysticisms. The 
worshippers, instead of waiting, as they would have 
done, had they retained the key to these signs till 
Shiloh came, for their full exposition, went in with 


310 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


the priests of Eleusis, into the secresies of their 
temples, and took such expositions as the priests 
chose to give them of the spirit and meaning of what 
had been exhibited to them in the second stage of 
their initiation. 

It is not now known what kind of religion, 
morality or immorality, the priests preached from 
the symbols. The first, judging from the writings 
of the Greek philosophers, had been any thing rather 
than the ancient hope of eternal life, through an 
expected Saviour; and the second was probably 
varied a good deal, according to the taste of the 
preacher. We are not much concerned to know 
what kind of sermons they gave; the most interest¬ 
ing part of their ceremonies to us is, to find exhi¬ 
bited, in the groves of Greece, the same figures 
and personages to whom we have been introduced in 
Chaldea, in Egypt, and in India. 

Accordingly, one of the first persons we meet 
there, is a double character, from whom we lately 
parted, called Confucius, in China, and Zoroaster, 
in Persia; now become the Autopsia of Eleusis. 
Ammon, Baal, and Osiris are now introduced to us 
as Helios ( the most high ) ; or as Hercules (Ariochel, 
the lion of God ); who, when he descends into 
Hades, to seek his wife Eurydice ( the hidden light), 
becomes Orpheus {killed), Apollo {hidden), and 
Bacchus {weeping). Such figures or forms as these 
are accompanied by Fauns (Phanni, the faces, al¬ 
ready noticed); by Satyrs {hidden things, or para¬ 
bles) ; by Demiurgus {the resemblance of death), a 
man of an azure colour, shaded with black (the 


THE MYSTERIES. 


311 


Veeshnu of the Indians when he descends to Hades) ; 
with an ark or coffin carried by Camphorae (Cne- 
phoras), the attendants of Cneph (the winged); fol¬ 
lowed by Pictures of Elysium (shouting for joy). 
In these and the other figures, exhibited to the 
neophytes, we see the resemblances, or copies under 
different names, of the forms we have been surveying 
in Egypt and India. 

Although, therefore, we may not be admitted into 
the secret chambers of Eleusis; when we see such 
objects exhibited in the outer court, we may safely 
conclude, that the instruction given within would 
bear a very marked resemblance to the higher 
branches of all the eastern philosophy or theology. 
The Epoptae, or those to whom the mysteries were 
laid open , would probably have different interpre¬ 
tations given them, at different periods ; and it must 
probably remain secret to us in what proportions 
truth and error were mixed up in the elucidations. 
The only matter of interest to us, now, is having 
ascertained, that, in Greece, as well as in Egypt and 
all the East, the same figurative mode of teaching, 
by the same emblems, was practised. The dispo¬ 
sition to philosophise and investigate, probably pre¬ 
vented the priests from teaching, or the votaries of 
Eleusis from fancying, that the figures exhibited were 
actual gods : but it would have humbled the pride 
of these sages and their disciples not a little, had 
they been aware that such a multitude of mysteries 
were merely reduplications of one great truth; and 
that, while they fancied themselves wiser than all 
who preceded them, they were merely joining, in 


312 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


their own corrupt way, with all the rest of the 
world, in bearing testimony that there had been a 
time when the hope of the resurrection was uni¬ 
versal—a time when that hope, at which, when 
afterwards it was preached by Saul of Tarsus, some 
of them ‘ mocked, and others said we will hear thee 
again of this matter,’ gave lustre to science and 
dignity to philosophy. 


313 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

(The Wat/ of the Heathen .) 

THE PANTHEON. 

A very few words will suffice for the consideration 
of the Roman Mythology, generally called the Pan¬ 
theon, or gods collected into one group ; all these 
gods, by the universal consent of the learned, being 
mere plagiarisms from the Greek, Egyptians, and 
Phoenician deities. When they reached Rome, how¬ 
ever, they became more veritable men and women 
than they had been before ; their fathers and mothers 
were determined, and the whole family tree well 

arranged. 

© 

Can there be imagined a more deplorable prosti¬ 
tution of the human intellect, than the employment 
of it to fix the sera, the country, and the genealogy 
of the Roman Jupiter, Juno, Vulcan, and Venus : to 
follow them through their obscene and filthy adven¬ 
tures ; to luxuriate over the amours, or to bewail the 
misfortunes of creatures, which, if they ever had 
existed, would have been a disgrace to humanity, to 
say nothing of divinity ? If such a study must have 


314 


THE WAY OF TIIE HEATHEN. 


been degrading, even in 4 times of ignorance,’ what 
can be thought of it, as an ornamental branch of 
learning,—as an exercise for the youthful mind, in 
times and in a country upon which 4 the true light,’ 
has dawned ? Fixing the birth-place, parentage, and 
education, gloating over the loves and debaucheries, 
of corrupted hieroglyphics ! ! It would be difficult 
to turn to a more degrading chapter in the economy 
of human life. 

The collection of all the gods into one circle, or 
Pantheon, at Rome, just before all gods of the 
nations were silenced by the appearance of the God 
of gods and Lord of lords, is a curious feature in the 
history of Polytheism. The hieroglyphics, from 
which these figures originally sprung, where those 
which represented the light, or formed the cherubic 
combination called the Paneim, or faces. Every 
sacrifice of old \ was brought 4 le Panel Jehovah; 
translated, 4 before the Lord;’ literally, 4 to the pre¬ 
sence of Jehovah indicated by that cherubic memo¬ 
rial of his truth in which he dwelt. This hierogly¬ 
phic memorial was copied, perverted, and divided 
into the various forms, at which we have glanced, in 
various countries ; and were combined, in them all, 
with the hieroglyphics of the firmament, in which 
the truth of God had been declared to every nation 
under heaven. These corruptions of the Panel were 
seen, not only in the Paw-tlieon, but in the Panthea , 
or Pen- ates, the household gods, orteraphim ; which, 
in every nation, seem to have been miniature repre¬ 
sentations of the Panei, or resemblances, exhibited in 
the temples and in the sacred groves; and 4 Io P^ean’ 


THE PANTHEON. 


315 


was the shout which welcomed Isis and Apollo on 
their return to light and life. 

Ere the True Light shone forth, which was to 
eclipse and confound all the false lights that were 
deceiving the world, these hierolgyphics had become 
imaginary beings, or actual gods of wood and stone, 
or gold and silver, throughout all the earth. Fo, 
Budha, Veeshnu, and Mithras, in the east, were 
enshrined on earth and their places secured in hea¬ 
ven. Osiris, Isis, and Anubis had the same honours 
paid them, and the same places allotted them, in 
the south. In Greece, Dionysius, Helios, and Or¬ 
pheus were to be seen occupying the same places, 
under different names. Paca Camac ( the opening up 
of the circle , by the sun ), had divine honours paid to 
him in Peru: Thor ( the sign of light), with his 
thunderbolt, was heard in the distant west; and 
Odin, or Woden (the testifier ), had his altars in the 
frozen north. The more elegant forms of Jupiter 
(Jah-pater), or Jove, with his thunderbolt (the god 
that answereth by fire), with the Eagle as the 
bearer of it, the Ox, sacred to him, and the Lion led 
by Cupid (the hand of love), took the seat of honour 
in the temples at Rome ; while Hebe (life), minis¬ 
tered to this singular corruption of the cherubic 
forms. Cneph (the icinged messenger of fire), was 
there changed into the winged Mercury. The dove, 
another sacred emblem, which attended Ashtaroth, 
the queen of heaven in the east, waited on Venus or 
Juno (the dove), at Rome. The Indian fable of 
Bowaney (wisdom), the mother of the gods, was 
there changed into the birth of Minerva out of the 


316 


THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN. 


head of Jupiter. We find Veeshnu going through 
all his labours again at Rome, under the name of 
Hercules; and when clothed, in either clime, with 
the skin of the lion, forming that first, and most 
striking, combination of the cherubic figures, the 
man and the lion. Mahadew fights all his battles 
o’er again as Mars. Pluto succeeds Typhon; and 
Tisiphone and her sisters realise all the horrors of 
the ancient Baal -Zephon. 

Imagination sickens as it traces out these hateful 
perversions of primitive truths, now changed into 
gods or their attendants; chiseled in marble; im¬ 
mortalized in verse; the adoration of the proud 
Romans, and the admiration of the enlightened 
moderns ! 

It is narrated by Plutarch, that, about the period 
of our Lord’s birth, the pilot, Thamus, heard voices 
in the air, proclaiming ‘the Great Pan is dead.’ 
Whether the story be true or fabulous, it is certainly 
a wonderful circumstance, in the history of mytho¬ 
logy, that all the corrupted forms (engrafted on the 
original Panei by which the early world was in¬ 
structed), should have been collected together, in the 
name of Pan at Rome ; to which city that epistle was 
to be addressed, in which the Gentile nations are 
convoked to the bar of revelation, and found guilty 
of having * changed the truth of God into a lie,’ and 
of ‘ worshipping the creature more than the Creator.’ 


317 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE MESSIAH. 


We gladly turn from these vanities of the Gentiles, 
to the manifestation of light and truth in the fulfil¬ 
ment of the promise of God. 

It is impossible ever to approach the considera¬ 
tion of this subject, without being oppressed by a 
sense of its magnitude; without being so filled with 
wonder, at the exceeding riches of the grace and 
goodness of God contained in it, as to feel that the 
mind of man never can estimate, nor the pen of man 
express, the full meaning contained even in that 
short and most simple of all phrases, by which it is 
described in the Bible, 4 God spared not his own 
Son.’ When man fulfils any promise, his ingenuity 
is generally set to work to devise the easiest mode 
of keeping his word; the narrowest construction 
that he can put upon the promise he has made; 
the most scrupulously literal, or the most evasively 
general way in which he can interpret or implement 
it. So much is this the natural disposition of the 
evil heart of man, that he judges of God as he would 
of himself or his neighbour; he 4 thinks him alto- 


318 


THE MESSIAH. 


gether such an one as himself ; and although ‘ God 
has commended his love towards us/ in fulfilling his 
promise in the most unspeakably complete, rich, 
and abundant manner,—yet how often are we found 
thinking, speaking, and acting, as if the words 
4 It is finished’ never had been pronounced without 
the gates of Jerusalem ! 

In the brief references we now propose to make 
to the coming and kingdom of the Messiah, as de¬ 
scribed in the New Testament, we shall endeavour 
to confine them, as strictly as possible, to the public 
attestation which was afforded, that the Good Thing 
promised to the fathers was fulfilled to the children. 

In all the antepasts of this event, in word or in 
figure, the Good was always placed in striking con¬ 
trast with the Evil. Out of darkness, light arose ; 
in the midst of wrath, mercy beamed; where sin 
abounded, grace did superabound. All were cases 
where the hand or help of mortal would have been 
in vain; where it was the Lord’s doing, and marvel¬ 
lous in the eyes of those who then beheld it, or who 
have since heard of it. There was, in every case, a 
uniformity of procedure, which indicated the same 
Almighty hand; the same unchangeable purpose; 
the same unsearchable wisdom. 4 A very present 
help in every time of trouble/ was always the proof 
of the presence and the power of the God of Israel. 

So, when the time of the Promise drew nigh, 
every thing was conducing to a state of the world 
in which the manifestation of the Truth would 
appear in marked contrast with the darkness that 
prevailed. The nations generally had cast off the 


THE MESSIAH. 


319 


fear of God, and changed his truth into a lie: they 
worshipped and served the creature more than the 
Creator. Even the chosen people of God had 
wholly forsaken the fountain of living waters. They 
forsook God that made them, and lightly esteemed 
the Rock of their Salvation. He had given them a 
law by the disposition of Angels. He had spoken 
to them himself from Mount Sinai. He had given 
them a figurative inheritance—a land flowing with 
milk and honey; and established ceremonies and 
feasts which all spake of another day. He gave 
them typical Mediators, Prophets, Priests, and 
Kings. He gave them line upon line; precept 
upon precept; sent them his servants the Prophets, 
—rising up early and sending them,—but they 
would not hear. Which of the Prophets did they 
not persecute, who shewed beforehand the coming 
of the Holy and Just One ? And they added this 
to all their other transgressions, they would not sub¬ 
mit themselve^ to the righteousness of God. They 
abridged his holy law ; perverted its precepts ; took 
away from the infinite perfection which it required ; 
and made it a ground of self-righteousness. And, 
that others might fall into the same pit, they ab¬ 
stracted the key of knowledge from that law; shut 
their own eyes, and darkened the minds of others, 
to the perfect righteousness and glorious hope of 
which it testified. Thus they filled up the measure 
of their transgressions. 4 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
thou that killest the prophets and stonest them who 
are sent to thee; how often would I have gathered 


320 


THE MESSIAH. 


thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her 
chickens under her wings, and ye would not!’ 

Darkness, thus, covered the promised land, and 
gross darkness the nations. God looked abroad on 
the children of men, to see if any did good. There 
was none righteous, no, not one; they had together 
gone out of the way ; they had together become un¬ 
profitable. 

It was in such a state of darkness, destitution, and 
guilt, that a light arose to lighten the Gentiles and 
the glory of his people Israel;—and so wonderful 
was that light, that, although the rulers and the 
people joined with the Chief Priests and the multi¬ 
tude to imbrue their hands in the blood of the Mes¬ 
siah,—the first emanation of that light was seen in 
a preaching of forgiveness to his murderers, and 
pardon to his enemies ! 4 Who, O God, is like unto 

thee, or to thy faithfulness round about thee !’ 

But to understand why such a manifestation of 
mercy as this could have been made', we must en¬ 
quire who the Messiah was ; and what he did, that 
could have produced a result so wonderful. 

Even if no previous revelation had been made, it 
must be evident that the world was then (whatever 
we may think it has been at other times) in a situa¬ 
tion beyond the reach of human aid. Suppose that 
a great Prophet had stood up, blameless, as far as 
man can be, in his life and conversation; that he 
had vindicated the law of God, and fulfilled its pre¬ 
cepts ; acted in every respect agreeable to God, and 
left an example, which, if followed, would be sure 
to gain the Divine approbation : of what possible 


THE MESSIAH. 


321 


benefit could that have been to any one but himself 
or to those who lived long enough after him, to 
hear of what he had done, and to follow the ensam- 
pie he left ? In what way could it atone for sins 
that were past ? By what conceivable sophistry 
could it have removed present guilt; for example, 
in the case of the thief on the cross ? 

There is another feature of the case, and an im¬ 
portant one, to be kept in view also. Suppose that 
this exemplary man is opposed, reviled, persecuted, 
betrayed, and murdered: could any thing result 
from that but an aggravation of the guilt of the mur¬ 
derers ? God might, of his infinite mercy, have 
pardoned them ; but how could he have done so, 
and yet have vindicated the law, which his servant 
had honoured, but which his murderers had dis¬ 
honoured, by condemning him to die ? No. If the 
case was desperate before, it would have been ren¬ 
dered doubly so, by the violence done to the vindi¬ 
cator of the Divine law. 

The conscience of man and all revelation bear 
testimony to the necessity of a propitiation ,—of a 
substitute. The same authorities tell us, that to be 
a propitiation for guilt, the substitute must suffer. 
But where was one to be found who could suffer 
more than that punishment which Adam by his 
offence had justly brought upon all his seed ? Death 
had come into the world, through his disobedience ; 
and reigned, even over those who had not sinned 
after the similitude of his transgression. 4 In Adam 
all die. 1 What benefit could result to those in their 
graves, by another son of Adam going to the place 

Y 


322 


THE MESSIAH. 


appointed for all living ? Could liis suffering, as 
they all had done more or less, or dying, as they all 
had done, be a propitiation for them ? We read of 
those who were killed all the day long; who were 
accounted as sheep for the slaughter; of those who 
loved not their lives unto the death, for the sake of 
the truth which they maintained. Surely, if the 
adherence of one man to the truth, and his death 
because of it, could be supposed to have any weight 
in such a matter,—the death of so many, and the 
killing even of the prophets sent to Jerusalem, 
might have been much more efficacious ! 

Man gropes in the most interminable darkness 
respecting death, and sin, of which it is the reward, 
until he takes up the Bible, and learns from it who 
Christ was. 4 What think ye of Christ, whose Son 
is he ? The Son of David. How doth David, then, 
call him LORD V The answer to this, gives the 
answer of a good conscience towards God, through 
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 
Any thing short of the character in which David 
anticipated him, when he 4 foresaw the Lord always 
before his face,’ consigns man to darkness and 
despair, in the view of death and the j udgment. 

The first thing which strikes man, on opening the 
Scriptures, is the character of God, so uniformly 
spoken of there, as LOVE; and as the God who 
keepeth the covenant and the mercy for ever, in 
which that love is manifested. At the same time 
we read that ‘justice and judgment are the esta¬ 
blishment of his thronethat he is 4 a jealous God, 
who will not forgive transgression;’ and we see 


THE MESSIAH. 


323 


daily proofs of this, in dust returning to dust; and 
very alarming instances of it, in plagues and pesti¬ 
lences, sent amongst the tents of his chosen people. 
These apparently opposite attributes of God, joined 
to the fear of death, would for ever doom us to 4 a 
fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indigna¬ 
tion,’ did we not see in the Scriptures every attri¬ 
bute of God declared, elucidated, and reconciled in 
the Son of his love. ‘No man hath seen God at 
any time ; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom 
of the Father He hath declared him !’ To declare 
Him, 4 he left the glory which he had with Him 
before the world wasveiled that glory, and be¬ 
came obedient to death, even the death of the cross. 
4 HEREIN IS LOVE.’ We never can compre¬ 
hend any thing of the character of God, as the 
God of Love, until we behold him not sparing his 
only begotten Son. Here the True God and Eternal 
Life are seen, in distinction from all idols; in dis¬ 
tinction from every other idea of God which man 
can frame in his own mind. This is an idea of 
God that never could have been framed or put 
together by man. No man could ever have con¬ 
ceived such perfection of Love as this; it never 
entered into the heart of man. Every other idea of 
love, as an attribute of God, which man can ima¬ 
gine, is a mere fiction, a creation of his own brain ; 
and God will not give his glory to another, nor his 
praise to such graven images. 4 In this was mani¬ 
fested the Love of God, in that He sent his Son 
into the world.’ Herein every attribute of God was 
displayed in perfection; Infinite Love in sending the 


324 


THE MESSIAH. 


Son ; Inflexible Justice in visiting iniquity on his 
righteous head ; and wakeful Jealousy of everything 
that tarnishes the lustre of the Divine character, as 
manifested in the humiliation of the Son. 

That the Substitute on whom the help of the 
helpless was to be laid, was to be humbled; that 
there was to be suffering first, and glory following ; 
was the ceaseless testimony of all the types, figures, 
and prophecies by which the coming of the Messiah 
was foretold. 4 0 fools, and slow of heart to believe 
all that the prophets have spoken; ought not Christ 
to have suffered these things, and to enter into his 
glory ? And beginning at Moses and all the pro¬ 
phets, he expounded to them, in all the Scriptures, 
the things concerning himself.’ 

4 As it is appointed unto man once to die,’ so the 
humiliation of any substitute could be of no avail 
to 4 the sons of death/ unless of one who could 
‘destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the 
devil.’ The power of Satan lies in darkening or 
obscuring the character of God; in giving his 
decrees or his dealings the semblance of austerity 
or inequality. Any merely human substitute stand- 
ing up, fulfilling all righteousness, and thereby pur¬ 
chasing life for himself and all others (had the thing 
been possible), would not have bruised the head of 
the serpent; or, what is the same thing, have 
silenced the arguments by which he instils unbelief. 
It would, still, have appeared as severe to visit the 
iniquity of one upon all his posterity, as it would 
have seemed arbitrary to give them life for what, in 
strict justice, should have benefited no one but the 


THE MESSIAH. 


325 


obedient party. God would not have appeared 
light in this, and in him no darkness at all. But, 
in Himself becoming the propitiation , there is not 
only a Substitute provided, the value of which 
cannot he calculated, nor the love manifested 
measured; hut the Sovereign Power of God,—in 
connexion with inflexible Justice,—to give Eternal 
Life to as many as he wills, so clear, that the enemy 
gnashes his teeth while he confesses it. The up¬ 
lifted weapon of the adversary falls powerless while 
he beholds his great triumph, the grave, only a 
pause in the song of mercy, to make the following 
note more sublime — only a passing cloud over the 
beams of the Divine Glory, that they may shine 
forth with a resplendence, to which all his opposition 
has only given lustre by the contrast. Thus, though 
the wages of sin be death, the Gift of God is 
Eternal Life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thus, 
the light of Eternal Life emanates out of darkness ; 
and the hope of it stands on no precarious ground, 
but on the Divine worth of Him, who says, 6 Fear 
not: I am the first and the last. I am the Living 
One, and I became dead; and behold I am alive 
for evermore. Amen. And have the keys of the 
separate state and of death/ 

The divine dignity and worth of the humbled Sub¬ 
stitute shines through all the record concerning his 
humiliation. It is equally acknowledged at his birth 
and at his ascension. He did not receive the name 
Jesus, which is above every name, after he had 
finished the work the Father gave him to do, but 
before he was conceived in the womb. When the 


326 


THE MESSIAH. 


angel announced his birth to the shepherds, when* 
ever he mentioned the sign — 4 the babe wrapped in 
swaddling clothes lying in a manger’ — suddenly 
there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly 
host, praising God, and saying, 4 Glory to God in 
the highest, and on earth peace, and good will 
towards man.’ These infants, whose angels do 
always behold the face of their Heavenly Father, and 
who form so large a portion of the heavenly host, 
know who it is that is lying in the manger. They 
do not wait till he had fulfilled all righteousness, ere 
they commence that perfection of praise, which the 
children in the temple re-echoed when Jesus entered 
there, and which shall never die away in heaven. 
Had this been merely man, God alone, who knows 
the end from the beginning, would have known 
whether he would finish the work given him to do. 
No doubt on this matter delays the song in heaven. 
Man thinks it derogatory to God that he should be 
found as a babe—this is the joy and the glory of the 
angelic host and of the redeemed. Even the wise 
men of the East, heathens as we esteem them, had 
consistent and scriptural views of the divinity of the 
Immanuel; for, even in the manger, they offered to 
him royal gifts and worshipped him. 

Why should we dwell so much on this part of 4 the 
Mystery of Godliness V Is it because, with many, 
we annex some mysterious and indefinable ideas to 
it, which constitute it a part of an incomprehensible 
something called Faith ? Nay: the Scriptures 
acknowledge no darkness of this kind in the charac¬ 
ter of the God of Israel; with him there is no varia- 


THE MESSIAH. 


327 


bleness nor shadow. The Lord Jesus was from the 
beginning, and is 4 the brightness of the Fathers 
glory.’ He is this, not in some incomprehensible, 
heavenly, or celestial sense; but because, in the 
manifestation of One from the Godhead to magnify 
the Divine Law, to fulfil it, to lie in the grave and 
unsting it and its ruler, the character of God as 
Love, and as Light, is declared, without a spot to 
dim its lustre, without a shadow to obscure its glory. 
Every thought which detracts from the Eternity and 
Divinity of the Son, obscures the glory of the Father. 
It signifies not whether that thought take the form 
of a doubt, of an express denial, or of uncertainty 
about the finished nature of his work, they all 
obscure the glory of God, shining in the face of 
Jesus; they all darken the meaning of the voice from 
the opened heavens, 4 This is my beloved Son, in 
whom I am well pleased.’ They all draw a veil 
over the figures by which that good pleasure was 
testified. 

As the glory of God lay in the humiliation of the 
Son, so the testimony which is borne to that humi¬ 
liation is as complete as the evidence that He who 
was humbled was God. Instead of coming into 
the world in power and glory, and commencing his 
public ministry at once, he is found as a babe. 
Even in this we see GOD. Who but God would 
have thought of providing such a hope, concerning 
infants , as this ? Who is there that has laid his 
child in the dust, that would part with the assurance 
given in the Scriptures, that with such God took part 
in flesh and in blood,—-who would exchange this 


S2S 


THE MESSIAH. 


blessed intelligence for all the abstract reasonings 
that the tongue of men or of angels could indulge 
in, respecting the salvation of infants ? Who can 
speak to the heart as God does ? The heart which 
does not acknowledge the divinity of the babe of 
Bethlehem, never felt what it was to see his own 
child suffer the consequences of its parent’s guilt. 

As the Lord Jesus came to redeem those who 
were under the law, therefore he was made under 
that law : that in all things he might be made like 
unto his brethren : and for thirty years remains in 
obscurity : honouring the first commandment with 
j)romise: increasing in wisdom and in stature, and 
in favour with God and man. Herein is complete 
attestation that the Lord did not nominally, or in 
mere outward appearance, or form, take part with 
flesh and blood. He placed himself in a situation 
of complete dependence on his Father, that he might 
4 learn obedience /’ Wonderful, indeed, was his 
love towards us,—passing knowledge. He came to 
show how fully God might be trusted ; he therefore 
became a servant . The favour of God was ever 
shown to those who delighted in his character, as 
manifested in his law; in the intimation, therefore, 
that Jesus increased in favour with God, we have 
assurance that in Him was fulfilled, in perfection, 
all that was said in the psalms of the man who 
delighted in the law of God. David spoke concern¬ 
ing Him. He stripped himself of his glory—became 
a servant—cast his whole dependence on his Father 
for support, in his humiliation—and took no armour 
with him, when he entered on his public ministry, 


THE MESSIAH. 


329 


but the word and the law of God. Therefore did 
the Father delight in him, and say, 4 Behold my Ser¬ 
vant'whom I have chosen, mine elect in whom my 
soul delighteth and the Son said, 4 My meat and 
my drink is to do the will of Him who sent me, and 
to finish his work/ The pride of man thinks this 
derogatory to God. This is the glory of God. 4 We 
beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of 
the Father, full of grace and of truth/ 

Ere he enters on his public ministry he is washed, 
or baptized as the priests were; and he is anointed, 
for 4 lo ! the heavens were opened, and the Holy 
Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove , and 
abode upon him; and there came a voice to him 
from heaven, saying, 4 This is my beloved Son, in 
whom I am well pleased/ We must deny the divi¬ 
nity of the Holy Ghost, as well as of the Son, ere we 
can deny the union of the Divine Three here. The 
Holy Ghost came down from heaven and abode upon 
him : and after his descent, there came a voice from 
heaven. Here were two from heaven. Dare we ex¬ 
clude the third Divine Person here, because He is in 
the form of a Servant ? Shall the heavens open to 
declare his Divinity ; and shall man, for whom he 
humbled himself, deny him? 

Even Satan, in the temptation which followed, 
acknowledged his divine character; and, with his 
usual craft, attempts not to deny it, but to prompt 
to the manifestation of it, in some manner less 
humiliating than by dependence on God. The 
answer is always in grand consistency with the cha¬ 
racter in which the Lord appeared : 4 It is written 


330 


THE MESSIAH. 


being the only answer given to the seducer. Foiled 
in his attempt at direct seduction, the enemy puts it 
into the heart of a favoured disciple to suggest the 
same thing: 4 Get thee behind me, Satan,’ is the 
rebuke, 4 for thou savourest not the things that be of 
God, but the things that be of men.’ 

In his doctrine, he speaks as the Lawgiver him¬ 
self, 4 with authorityand, in many instances, he 
shews himself 4 the searcher of hearts.’ In his dis¬ 
courses, he vindicates his Divinity, and his equality 
with the Father; while his perfect dependence upon 
him, and the perfect unity of the Divine Three in 
the work he was to finish, give consistency and 
power to all his refutations of the sophistry of the 
lawyers. 

In his miracles, he does works which none but 
Jehovah could perform ; w T hich none but Jehovah 
would ever have thought of employing as proofs of 
Divinity. Instead of performing some of those 
4 signs,’ which the Jews sought after,—some amaz¬ 
ing and brilliant exhibitions of power, in the pre¬ 
sence of the congregated nation,—he heals the sick, 
cleanses the lepers, raises the dead. The blind see, 
the deaf hear, the lame walk. The blind and the 
lame come to him in the Temple, and he heals them. 
Here were signs grandly illustrative of the object of 
his humiliation; signs illustrative of the healing 
which reaches every guilty conscience which be¬ 
lieves the testimony from Heaven concerning him. 
And to crown all those works, like to which there 
are no works, and which prove him to be God, he 
4 preaches the Gospel to the poorl This is the last 


THE MESSIAH. 


331 


tiling which the wisdom of man would adduce, as a 
proof of Divinity; but it is one of the brightest 
beams reflected from the face of that God, who 4 puts 
down the mighty from their seats, and exalts them 
of low degree.’ It is one of those proofs which speak 
to the heart; and which teach the insufficiency of 
all language to describe the love of Christ, which 
passeth knowledge. 

Those who attended the Lord and ministered to 
him, in the days of his flesh, were often in great 
doubt and darkness respecting the sufferings and 
death of which he spoke; were often in great 
perplexity regarding himself, and the divinity of his 
character. His appearance was so humble , his 
visage more marred than any man’s, and his form 
more than the sons of men ; the court he ga¬ 
thered round, so unlike what the king of Israel 
was expected to hold, that even his forerunner, John 
the Baptist, began to entertain doubts if this could 
be the Immanuel. No wonder, then, his own 
brethren were offended at his appearance, and that 
the worldly-wise and the illustrious held him in 
derision. He was despised, rejected of men; a 
man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and we 
hid, as it were, our faces from him. It was not un¬ 
til they had fulfilled all that was written of him— 
until he was crucified, buried, and raised the third 
day, that the extent of his humiliation, and the grand 
meaning of it all, were seen and felt. The sufferings 
under which he expired on the cross—not from the 
wounds that man had made, but from the hiding of 
the countenance of the Father—declared him to be 


332 


THE MESSIAH. 


the Lamb which God had provided to himself for a 
burnt offering. Under the fire from heaven lie ex¬ 
pired ; that fire, turned aside from a guilty world, to 
the head of the innocent sufferer. But his resur¬ 
rection declared him to be ‘ the Author or Prince 
of Life/ Here, then, was a propitiation, only to 
be bounded in the extent of the atonement it made, 
by the worth of the sufferer,—and that sufferer was 
Divine. Here was Eternal Life, only to be limited 
by the power and will of the purchaser to bestow it,— 
and that purchaser, ‘ God over all, blessed for ever. 
Amen.’ Here, indeed, was the God who said, Let 
light be, and light was ; here was Mercy, in its full 
extent, rejoicing over the most awful display of 
judgment, which ever was exhibited before men or 
angels. God could now be just in forgiving iniquity 
of the deepest dye; yea, even in forgiving the 
betrayers and murderers of the Son of his love; 
because the atonement had been as infinite in value, 
as the grace and mercy were boundless in which it 
originated. Thus was the Righteousness of God 
brought in, and preached to Jew and Gentile with¬ 
out difference : thus that ‘ Righteousness came forth 
as light, and his Salvation as a lamp that burnetii.’ 
All rests on the divinity of the offering: take that 
away, and the sufferings of the Lord Jesus only ren¬ 
der the ways of Heaven more dark and intricate: 
take that away, and every type and figure remains 
to be fulfilled; restore them, and light rises out of 
obscurity; the poor is raised from the dunghill to be 
set with princes; and ‘ Thanks be to God for his 


THE MESSIAH. 


333 


unspeakable Gift,’ may resound from all who hear 
that that gift is in his Son. 

What expectation of mercy, which ever was 
looked for by Angels, or hoped for by man, is not 
more than fulfilled, on the morning of the first day 
of the week ? Two of the Angels who beheld the 
light, at first, beaming out of darkness; and who 
were led, from that sign, to anticipate an illustration 
of the character of God, which would for ever shut 
the mouths of the apostates;—behold that illustra¬ 
tion as they stand, the one at the head and the other 
at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 
Filled with wonder at a discovery so glorious, they 
say, ‘Come, see the place where THE LORD lay!’ 
Knowing the infinite dignity and worth of Him who 
had lain there, they consider no words they can use 
so fitted to preach peace on earth and good will 
towards man, as a simple attestation to the fact, that 
Jehovah had lain there. 

The faith of the worshippers of old, who had 
brought an offering to the presence of the Lord, was 
now justified; for the fire or sword of God’s wrath 
had awoke against the true Substitute, the Man 
God’s fellow. 

Wherever mercy had been looked for,—‘ what¬ 
soever plague, whatsoever sore, what prayer or sup¬ 
plication had been made by any man, who knew 
the plague of his own heart, and had prayed towards 
heaven, the dwelling-place of the hearer of prayer,’ 
it was now seen why God had heard in heaven, his 
dwelling-place, and when he heard had forgiven; 

for here a propitiation had lain, for whose sake God 
5 


334 


THE MESSIAH. 


was 4 faithful and just to forgive iniquity and cleanse 
from all sin/ What hard question was not now 
answered ? What question concerning death and 
the grave was not now expounded ? What hope 
concerning the resurrection of the body was not now 
confirmed ? 

Hence all the witnesses to this event had but one 
object, in all their testimony and in all they wrote,— 
the Divinity of the Sufferer and the certainty of 
his resurrection. These proved, and light shone in 
and beyond the grave—these taken away, and man 
still sat, and would for ever sit, in the region and 
shadow of death. 

When we examine the nature of the record con¬ 
cerning the Messiah, we behold, as in the previous 
testimony concerning him, something very different 
from what man would have testified; something 
which incontestably proves its divine origin. Instead 
of an artificially-constructed story, and laboured 
disquisitions to prove its truth, we find the pens of 
different witnesses employed, some of them evidently 
4 ignorant and unlearned/ to tell what Jesus began 
both to do and to teach, so far as they themselves 
were eye-witnesses, or heard on undoubted testimony; 
while the doctrinal elucidations and discussions, to 
which the news concerning the Messiah gave rise, 
are in the form of letters, originating in questions 
that arose, or errors that crept in, amongst the first 
professed believers of the Gospel. 

In the first of these historical records, by the 
Evangelist Matthew, written originally in Hebrew, 
and intended evidently, in the first place, for the 


THE MESSIAH. 


S3 5 


Jewish converts, we see such events and matters 
dwelt upon, as more particularly pointed out the 
Messiah as the promised Son of David. But how 
different is his testimony concerning this, from what 
would have been written, had the expectation of 
this Son been fulfilled in the way man would have 
expected ? No doubt there are many allusions in 
his Gospel to events happening, 4 that it might be 
fulfilled which was spoken by’ this or the other 
prophet; but these are all circumstances which it 
never would have occurred to man to select for ful¬ 
filment. It is noticeable, too, that every one of 
these recorded by Matthew, are literal fulfilments 
of the prophets; fulfilments which required no spi¬ 
ritual applications to verify them ; facts , which all 
his readers were cognizant of. While by such 
things, brought to pass by the evident interposition 
of the hand of Heaven, he clearly proves that Jesus 
of Nazareth was the very holy Child, Immanuel, 
God with us, promised to be born of the Virgin ; 
he narrates discourses and acts of our Lord, which 
could have been spoken and done by none but 
Jehovah himself. 

In Mark’s narration, again, which omits the proofs 
given by Matthew, of the fulfilment of the Old 
Testament, and which seems therefore to have been 
intended for those who were not so conversant with 
the Scriptures of the prophets, the miracles are 
more dwelt upon. The desire of all nations, the 
promised Messiah, was to do many wonderful works. 
What works can bear comparison with those miracles? 
Well might the Lord say, 4 Believe that I am in the 


336 


THE MESSIAH. 


Father and the Father in me, for the very works’ 
sake.’ 

By Luke more copious particulars are given, on 
many matters of great interest to the believers, 
from the first annunciation of the birth of the 
Harbinger, to the ascension into heaven of the glo¬ 
rified body of the Captain of Salvation. Yet none 
of them are those which gratify curiosity; none of 
them such as a philosopher would prize ; but all of 
them of unsearchable value to the poor, the miser¬ 
able, the wretched, the blind and naked — to man in 
all his misery. 

The Apostle John seems to have had his attention 
more directed, from his intimacy with the Lord, to 
the Divinity, which the depth of his humiliation, 
instead of obscuring, only rendered the more appa¬ 
rent. That Divinity, as it appeared in his incar¬ 
nation, in his doctrine, in his miracles, in his 
troubles, in his agony, in his sufferings, in his death, 
and in his resurrection, was a theme which appeared 
to this beloved disciple so boundless, so inexhaustible, 
that c I suppose,’ he says, 4 the world itself could not 
contain the books that should be written.’ 

Take these evangelists together; and if the wis¬ 
dom of the wise, or the understanding of the pru¬ 
dent, could ever have imagined any other declara¬ 
tion of the Godhead, any other discovery of God, 
so calculated to suit the case of 4 sons of death’— 
so fitted 4 to deliver those who, through fear of 
death, have been all their life-time subject to bond- 
age,’—as the account they give of Jesus of Nazareth, 
—we shall own they have failed in proving, what 


THE MESSIAH. 


337 


they undertook to prove, that the Word was made 
flesh and dwelt among us; that that Word was in 
the beginning with God; and that that Word was 
God. This is the real test to bring their testimony to. 
It professes to be a Gospel, that is, good news. It 
professes to be intended for those who sit in darkness 
and in the region and shadow of death; and it 
declares that to those who sit there, ‘ light is sprung 
up.’ Let the truth of their testimony be tried there 
—let it be sifted with this certainty full in view— 
that ‘ it is appointed to man once to die, and after 
death the judgmentand let the wretched man 
doomed to this, say whether it be not the grandest 
news which ever reached his ears, that He who died 
upon the cross, was buried, and was raised the third 
day, was God. Let him say, if such a thought 
could ever have originated in the heart of man, as 
the provision of such an atonement as that . Let 
him say, if the thought itself does not prove its 
divine origin ; and if he do not confess that the 
finger of God is here, he is something more than 
mortal, or less . 

On the ascension of the Lord Jesus into heaven, 
the Divine Spirit came down visibly , to attest the 
entrance of the Great High Priest into the heavenly 
holy place ; and, by miraculous gifts, to confirm the 
testimony of those who were to bear witness of his 
resurrection. In all their testimony, whether to 
Jew or Gentile, we read the language of men, testi¬ 
fying the fulfilment of an anticipated event; ful¬ 
filled, indeed, in an unanticipated manner; but so 
fulfilled, as to carry conviction to the mind of its 


338 


THE MESSIAH. 


being the work of God alone; so fulfilled as to be 
good tidings of great joy; to be life, and light, and 
joy, and peace, to every one who credited the 
report. 

In the execution of this commission 4 to the Jew 
first," the point to which all their evidence tends, 
is the fulfilment of the writings of the prophets. 
They show that the divinity, the sufferings, the 
death, and the following glory of the Messiah, had 
been the expectation of the holy men of God, who 
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost ; and, 
in language which either pricked the hearts of their 
hearers to the acknowledgment of the truth, or to a 
hatred of it, which made them 4 gnash upon them 
with their teeth,’—they proved that in condemning, 
betraying, and murdering the Author of Life, they 
had fulfilled the voices of their own prophets, which 
were read amongst them every Sabbath-day. While 
they did this, they accompanied their condemnation 
with a proof that it was their own Jehovah, in all 
the glory of his character, they were declaring to 
them ; when they said to these very betrayers and 
murderers, 4 through this Man is preached to you 
the forgiveness of sins 4 the promise is to you and 
to your childrenyea, to you who said, 4 his blood 
be on us and on our children.’ The Son had come 
into the world to manifest the Name of the Father 
as the God of Israel — as the God who keepeth * 
covenant and mercy for ever; and what more glorious 
proof could be given of this, than in the mercy 
which rejoiced over judgment, in the preaching of 
forgiveness to the murderers of the Son of God ! 

4 


TIIE MESSIAH. 


339 


When the witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus 
turned to the Gentiles, we do not find them enter 
into laboured proofs respecting the existence of a 
God; or a comparison of the philosophy and mo¬ 
rality, taught by the Lord Jesus, over that in vogue 
amongst the Greeks and Romans : their preachings 
were simply attestations to the fact of the incar¬ 
nation, sufferings, death, and resurrection of the 
Son of God; and the all-sufficiency of his righte¬ 
ousness, or righteous offering, to atone for the sins 
of a world, brought to the bar of revelation and 
found guilty. In what they witnessed concerning 
this Jesus of Nazareth, they contended that the true 
character of God was seen; a character combining 
the most perfect justice and holiness, with such un¬ 
bounded mercy and forgiveness, as was every way 
sufficient to give the answer of a good conscience 
towards God, and to relieve the mind of the most 
wretched, on the only matters of real moment—death 
and the judgment. 

Those who believed the apostolic testimony, con¬ 
sorted together, and strengthened each other’s minds 
under the contumely and suffering to which it ex¬ 
posed them, from those who saw nothing but foolish¬ 
ness, or from those who apprehended danger to 
their craft, in the light of the truth. The confir¬ 
mation of the faith and hope of these congregations 
—their unity and order, were the great objects of the 
anxiety and care of the Apostles. For these pur¬ 
poses their epistles were written. They had shown 
them the Good, in the declaration of the character 
of God, shining in Jesus Christ; they had exhi- 


340 


THE MESSIAH. 


bited to them, there, God as wholly Good ; and they 
called upon them to manifest a sense of this, by 
‘ doing justly, loving mercy, and humbling them¬ 
selves to walk with their God.’ Amazing view of 
the character of God this ; that man, instead of 
having to exalt himself, has to humble himself to 
walk with God ! 

u 

In the Epistles of Paul to the Gentile churches, 
we see all the argumentative part of his writings 
founded on the original knowledge possessed by the 
Gentiles of the truth of God ; on the guilt which 
the corruption of that truth entailed on them ; on 
the complete amnesty afforded, in the elucidation of 
that truth, at the cross of Jesus Christ; and on the 
hope of eternal life, abundantly provided, in his 
resurrection from the dead. He does not argue, or 
prove these things, by showing that the Gentile cor¬ 
ruptions contained attestations to them ; this would 
have given stability and importance to their corrup¬ 
tions, instead of sweeping them away. But the meta¬ 
phors in use amongst them, were now incorporated 
with their languages ; and they rendered intelligible 
to them the powerful appeals to their understandings 
and consciences, regarding their own guilt, as well as 
the exquisitely beautiful similes by which ‘ the light 
of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of 
God,’ was declared to them. 

In the same epistles he instructs how they were 
to behave themselves in the church of God : he 
warns, admonishes, and rebukes; and neglects no 
opportunity of bringing them back to c the beginning 
of their confidence,’ even ‘ the simplicity that is in 


THE MESSIAH. 


341 


Christ Jesus 4 determining to know nothing among 
them but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.’ 

In the epistle of this well-instructed scribe, ad¬ 
dressed specially to the believing Hebrews, we have 
throughout the most wonderful attestation to the 
unchangeable glory of the incorruptible God, which 
the Spirit of God, guiding the pen of men, has left 
upon record. Carrying his readers back with him 
to the birth of creation, he shows it to have been 
the eternal purpose of God to reveal his character 
in his Son, who was to leave the bosom of his 
Father, and to be made in all points like as we are, 
that he might become head over all things to his 
redeemed body, and for it purchase every blessing ; 
obtain, 4 by inheritance ,’ every thing which man 
stood in need of, 4 wisdom, righteousness, sancti¬ 
fication, and redemption;’ yea, even to the purchase 
of the grave / He proves this from the Scriptures 
themselves; quotes the passages in which the pro¬ 
mises, the word, and the oath concerning this, are 
recorded; leads his hearers into the tabernacle 
and temple; expounds all that they see passing 
around them ; lifts the veil, and shows them the 
beauty of the Lord in his sanctuary. Having 
proved that these things testified of the day of 
Christ, he turns their attention to heaven itself ; 
shows them the antitype of all the service of the 
tabernacle and temple in the heavenly holy place ; 
demonstrates the heavenly unchangeable nature of 
the New Testament church; and expatiates, in the 
most splendid language which the pen of man was 
ever directed to put together, on the Divinity and 


342 


THE MESSIAH. 


peerless attributes of the Apostle and High Priest 
of the Christian profession. From this, he en¬ 
courages his readers to wait patiently for that time 
when this Great High Priest shall again come out 
of heaven, in like manner as he was seen enter 
there; shows how the hope of that second coming 
supported the hearts of the elders, in their pilgrim¬ 
age on earth ; encourages his readers not to cast 
away their confidence, because they saw no outward 
glory or appearances, such as attended the Old 
Testament church; exhorts them to look at some¬ 
thing far more glorious than was ever seen at Sinai, 
or in the temple, even 4 the general assembly and 
church of the first-born on mount Zion, with Jesus 
the Mediator of the new covenant amongst them, 
and the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better 
things than that of Abeland warns them, that 
although there is no sound of a trumpet, or voice of 
words, as at Sinai, He who spoke there continues 
to speak from heaven, in that word, which, although 
like a still small voice, is ‘quick and powerful, sharper 
than any two-edged sword, and is a discerner of the 
thoughts and intents of the heart.’ 

In the epistle of James is clearly and forcibly 
pointed out, how faith is always to be known by the 
fruits which it produces; and the errors of those 
who ‘ said but did not,’ or who turned the grace of 
God into lasciviousness, are unsparingly exposed. 

The epistles of Peter, and that of Jude, are 
chiefly occupied with the expectation of the second 
coming of the Son of Man ; and with exhortations 
to the Christian churches to ‘ stand fast in the faith ; 


THE MESSIAH. 


343 


and 4 to gird up the loins of their mind, to be sober, 
and hope to the end for that revelation of Jesus 
Christ.’ 

John,—who lived to a great age, and had seen 
many corruptions creeping into the churches, par¬ 
ticularly the mystical notions of the gnostics,— 
warns, in his epistles, against all self-delusion on 
the subject of the Holy Spirit,—show's that it was 
given to the Apostles to corroborate the testimony 
they gave to the Divinity of Jesus Christ, — and 
asserts that its operation might always be known, 
from any other spirit, by the love to the truth which 
it produced; and that true apostolic churches would, 
in like manner, be distinguished from others by 
4 walking in love.’ 

The Scriptures close with a book, called empha¬ 
tically 4 The Revelation of Jesus Christ .’ At its 
opening, His character, as the First and the Last, 
the Alpha and the Omega, the Almighty, who is and 
was and is to come, is plainly declared. In that 
character, he warns his churches, in language 
adapted to every situation in which they would be 
placed, in the seven periods between his first and 
second coming. John, who wrote the book, is then 
introduced, and introduces his readers, to the heavenly 
holy place, where the figurative emblems of the 
slain Lamb and the Lion of the Tribe of Judah 
are revealed. A revelation is there, also, made of 
other figurative emblems, as formerly noticed, by 
which instruction was conveyed under the Old Tes¬ 
tament. The seals of the Old Testament book of 
prophecy are opened, and its figures and prophecies 


344 


THE MESSIAH. 


revealed, and applied to the great Apostacy, which 
was to take place in the New Testament Church, 
emphatically called the Man of Sin, from his rise 
to his final consumption and destruction. The dis¬ 
tinctive marks of this great Antichrist are pointed 
out, and placed in beautiful contrast with the cha¬ 
racteristics and ornaments of the church on Mount 
Sion. And, as the Scriptures open with a descrip¬ 
tion of the Paradise of God, and its forfeiture, so 
they close with a restoration to it, and to the Tree 
of Life, through the righteousness of our God and 
Saviour Jesus Christ. 

We have thus, most briefly and imperfectly, 
glanced at the nature of the Scripture testimony 
concerning the Incarnation of the Son of God—the 
sum and substance of which testimony is contained 
in these words of the Apostle,—that 4 Jesus Christ 
was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of 
God ; to confirm the promises to the fathers; and 
that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.’ 
To have examined, however briefly, the many ways 
in which that promise was fulfilled, and that mercy 
shown, would have required volumes, instead of 
pages; but whether we take the great and leading 
features of the testimony given to the Son of God, 
in the New Testament, or examine, minutely, the 
parts of which it is composed, we shall find it all 
centering in the Divinity, and, therefore, the all- 
sufficiency, of THE WORD to take away sin by 
the sacrifice of himself. In that Divinity w r e see 
the unchangeable nature of the purpose of God 
manifested—the attributes of unchangeable love 


THE MESSIAH. 


345 


and boundless mercy in his character reconciled 
with inflexible justice. ‘ Justice and Mercy meeting 
together, Righteousness and Peace embracing each 
other.’ Whoever, of old, looked for, or asked for, 
mercy, in the faith of the Promise, had, now, every 
expectation realised, beyond what it could have 
entered into the heart of man to have conceived ; 
and wheresoever the intelligence went out to the 
world, and was credited, that God had visited his 
people,—and, after bringing in His own righteous¬ 
ness by the death of his Son, had exalted him at 
his right hand, as the representative and High 
Priest of those with whom he had taken part in 
flesh and in blood,—an anchor of the soul, sure and 
stedfast, was afforded, which never could be ob¬ 
scured or weakened, save by denying the Divinity, 
or detracting from the worth, of the Lamb who was 
slain. 


I 


346 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

ANTICHRIST. 

When the Apostles went out into the world, with 
the testimony concerning their Lord, the power pre¬ 
figured by the budding of the Rod, and the exalta¬ 
tion of the Horn, was verified in the effect of their 
preaching: it cast down high thoughts and every 
thing that exalted itself,—laid the pride and the wis¬ 
dom of man low,—brought down the hills and raised 
the valleys,—so that all mankind were placed on 
one level, and all flesh saw the salvation of God. 

Among other effects which the declaration of the 
God whom they ignorantly worshipped, had on the 
power and the pride of the votaries of the God of 
this world—was that of silencing the lying oracles 
of the groves, and casting down the images in the 
temples. This was one fulfilment of the contest, 
which John thus saw in vision, 4 Michael (the 
strength of God) and his angels (or messengers, the 
apostles) fought, aud the devil fought and his 
angels, and prevailed not,—neither was their place 
found any more in heaven—they were cast out of 


ANTICHRIST. 


347 


the place of worship,—they were no longer openly 
recognised as gods. Demon worship ceased. Many 
ol those who practised curious arts came and 
4 burned their books in the sight of all men, and 
they counted the price, and found it fifty thousand 
pieces of silver; so mightily grew the word of God 
and prevailed.’ 

But although the Dragon was, thus openly, cast 
out, and his angels with him—yet it was added, 
1 Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea 
(the multitudes of nations), for the devil hath come 
unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth 
that he hath but a short time.’ The more insidious 
arts of the enemy were soon apparent. He had 
made a pit and digged it deep, but himself had 
fallen into the pit he had made. He expected, in 
the death of the Lord, to have frustrated for ever 
the gracious purposes of Heaven ;—but through that 
death, life and immortality were brought to light, 
on a foundation which he never could prevail against. 
He did not, therefore, attempt any longer to remove 
that foundation. c Other foundation no man would 
attempt to lay,’ after the public declaration of the 
hand of Heaven in its establishment;—he therefore 
confined his wiles to the superstructure built upon 
that foundation, and the success of his schemes was 
seen in the church. 

It is exceedingly interesting to trace, in the great 
New Testament Antichristian power, which arose 
in Christendom itself, not merely the precise antici¬ 
pations of the Apostles, but the very features which 
identify it as the antitype of all the figures by which 


348 


ANTICHRIST. 


the corruption of the truth was foreshadowed in the 
Old Testament. 

That the great prototypes of spiritual Babylon, 
the mother of harlots, were the Babylonish kingdom 
and Egypt, is evident from these names being applied 
to it. The corruptions and abominations of these 
two nations were as faithfully copied, in the New 
Testament Church, as the plagues with which they 
were visited have been or are to be executed upon 
her. 

Babel had its origin while all the earth was of 
one lip; and its power lay in the adoption of a 
ritual, on which the signs universally acknowledged 
were engrafted. The New Testament Babel arose 
when the nations, of that which is emphatically 
called in the language of revelation, 4 the earth/ 
had become professedly Christian, when they all 
acknowledged the same truth ; and its power has 
always consisted in never denying in words that 
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. That acknow¬ 
ledgment has always been made by Spiritual Baby¬ 
lon, even in the periods of the greatest darkness. 

Babylon of old claimed a heavenly origin; spoke 
with the authority of Heaven; filled her heaven 
with deified saints; and changed prophecy into 
astrology. Her antitype claimed the keys of the 
kingdom of heaven; thundered forth her decrees as 
if they were the voice of God; filled every nook of 
her heaven with saints; and made the fortunes of 
her votaries dependent on the star, or saint, to 
whom they committed the guardianship of their 
footsteps. Babylon had a furnace to which she 


ANTICHRIST. 


340 

committed the bodies of those who refused to wor¬ 
ship the great golden image;—Antichrist went a 
step beyond this,—she created purgatory. 

Egypt turned signs into gods. Spiritual Egypt 
changed symbols into realities, and created God out 
of a piece of bread at her pleasure. The magicians 
of Egypt and Babylon did many strange things; 
but this magic of their spiritual antitype, throws 
theirs completely into the shade. 

We need not follow the parallel farther at present, 
but rather enquire, briefly, how such things could 
ever have been attempted, or how they ever could 
have imposed on human beings. 

Soon after Christianity became general in Europe 
and part of Asia, it was thought necessary, in order 
to prevent divisions and heresies, that the true 
churches, in every part of the world, should be 
united together, according to some generally recog¬ 
nised form of Church Government, so as to form 
one General or Catholic Church. To this church, 
in the persons of her ministers, it was contended 
that the power of binding and loosing was com¬ 
mitted. The argument on which this was founded 
was, that the keys of the kingdom of heaven had 
been given to the Apostles, and that these keys re¬ 
mained with their successors; viz., with those 
who were regularly ordained, or could trace back 
their succession to the bishops of the first churches. 
A church so constituted required a temporal Head; 
a vicegerent of the head of the church, to act for 
him in his worldly kingdom. It was found out, or 
feigned, that Peter, to whom the keys had been 


350 


ANTICHRIST. 


specially committed, had been bishop of the church 
at Rome. The bishop of Rome was therefore duly 
entitled to the honour, and he was constituted head, 
Father, Papa, or Pope of the church. 

While these things were going on, there were two 
very troublesome preachers, prophets or witnesses 
in the church—the Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testament. There were not wanting restless spirits, 
too, who appealed to these witnesses against what 
was going forward. There could be neither rest 
nor peace in the church, so long as these tw T o wit¬ 
nesses continued to testify so plainly against any 
combination, under whatever name or pretence, to 
appoint a different head of the church from Him 
who was already enthroned in heaven; and against 
any body of men making laws for the church which 
He had not ordained. They spoke so plainly of 
all power in heaven and in earth having been com¬ 
mitted to Him, and of his being Head over all things 
to his body, that it became absolutely necessary to 
silence these witnesses. The following scheme was 
devised: 

A Catholic or General Church should have a Ca¬ 
tholic or general language. It was very indecorous 
that the church should be using various languages 
in celebration of the same worship. Besides, the 
Scriptures might be wrong translated. Accordingly 
they had them translated into a dead language, in 
some degree intelligible to the priests, but an un¬ 
known tongue to all the people. 

This was a pretty bold step; but it answered the 
purpose, — the witnesses were effectually silenced. 


ANTICHRIST. 


351 


Now nothing was restrained from the builders which 
they purposed to do. Now that the two witnesses 
were killed, who could utter a word against the 

y O 

possessors of the keys ? They bound and they 
loosed, as they saw meet;—nay, they could now 
even appeal to the witnesses themselves, and get 
them to countenance all they said and did, seeing 
they could interpret the words, which came from 
those dead bodies, in any way to suit their own 
purposes. But to do this effectually, they first 
established two kinds of testimony, the oral and the 
written. The oral was that given to the church, 
and was the greatest; the written was that com¬ 
mitted to the two witnesses, who spoke so oracu¬ 
larly, that they never could be understood unless the 
church interpreted. One of the most notable of 
these interpretations was the following : 

Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night he was 
betrayed, had taken bread; and when he had 
blessed and broken it, he said, ‘ this is my body.’ 
As our Lord was then producing a symbol fre¬ 
quently used by himself in his doctrine,—a symbol 
prior to the law, having been brought forth by Mel- 
chisedeck, and therefore not to be abrogated with the 
symbols of the law, but to continue a sign or symbol 
in the church till he came again,—he explains its 
meaning, by saying, this is my body, in the same 
way as lie afterwards said to the apostle John, 4 the 
seven candlesticks are the seven churches.’ No man 
in a sane mind, or having an understanding above 
the brutes that perish, when he saw the Lord in per¬ 
son sitting at table, would any more have supposed 


352 


ANTICHRIST. 


that lie meant ‘this bread is become my body, which 
is to be crucified to-morrow/ than he would have 
supposed that seven candlesticks were seven churches. 
But, said the expositors, our Lord did mean so; and 
our expositions are infallible. Why, it was replied, 
this is most extraordinary; can you create the un¬ 
created God at your bidding? Yes, replied the church, 
w r e can; it may seem incredible to you, but so much 
the more readily ought you to believe it; for the 
more incredible a thing is, the more worthy is it to 
be an article of faith ; seeing it requires much greater 
faith to believe an impossibility, than anything rest¬ 
ing on evidence. But, in fact, you have no choice in 
the matter; you must believe or be burnt here, and 
remain in purgatory, or worse, hereafter! Yerily, 
Nimrod himself was gentle, compared to the Great 
Intolerant before the Lord in the New Testament! 
—Her little finger was thicker than his loins. 

A church having the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven, the pow’er of purgatory, worldly honours, 
and the creation of God at her command, was not to 
be trifled with—kings bowed before her, and nobles 
sought her altars. These altars were soon enriched 
with the spoils of a credulous world. To vindicate 
her power on earth, she set her foot on the necks of 
kings, and emptied their coffers. To show her influ¬ 
ence in heaven, slie raised her devotees to the stars— 
gave them the name of saints, set them in the niches 
where the gods of heathen Rome stood; made Venus 
give place to the Virgin Mary,—and Cupid—but the 
pen refuses to trace her defilements. Yea, she re¬ 
stored the mighty Pan himself, under the name of 


ANTICHRIST. 


353 


All Saints! Thus did she make ‘an image of the beast 

which had been killed by the sword of the apostles;’ 

and 4 all the world wondered after the resuscitated 

monster, and the blasphemer who revived him/ 

She did not stop here. She imitated the power of 

the two murdered witnesses. She made 4 fire come 

down from heaven in the sight of all men/ She sent 

© 

forth her decrees, as if they came from the throne of 
God himself; and, imitating his voice, thundered 
from the Vatican. Yea, she let loose 4 a mixture’ 
upon the earth, such as Egypt of old, with all her 
pruriency of filthy imaginations, could not have 
equalled. Monks of all orders and colours ,— 4 like 
locusts,’ combining the power of 4 the scorpion when 
it striketh a man,’ with the smooth face of the 
deceiver,—came up till they darkened the air. These 
unclean spirits, like frogs, became in the end, as they 
did to old Egypt, a mortal pest; for 4 they crept into 
houses and led captive silly women ;’ they came into 
their secret chambers, and the palace of the king 
itself was not spared. She filled up the measure of 
iniquity, and completed the character in which she 
was pourtrayed by the pens of the Apostles, when 
she made merchandise of the Word of God; taught 
the doctrines of demons, filling the w’orld with false 
miracles, and peopling the air with evil spirits; 4 for¬ 
bidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from 
meats, which God hath appointed to be received with 
thanksgiving/ 

One mistake she committed. She killed the two 
witnesses, but did not bury them. Their dead bodies 
—their bodies in a dead language—lay openly in the 


354 


ANTICHRIST. 


street of the great city, which spiritually is called 
Sodom and Egypt. In God’s good time the Spirit 
of life from God entered into these Scriptures ; they 
were translated into the languages of the nations— 
they stood on their feet, and great fear has fallen on 
all who have witnessed their resuscitation, while their 
murderers 4 gnaw their tongues for pain.’ 

AVonderful are the ways of God. Ever the same; 
ever causing the wrath of man to praise him, and to 
accomplish his gracious purposes. Had Antichrist, 
instead of killing the witnesses, corrupted them , we, 
on whom the ends of the earth are come, might 
never have heard their testimony in their own words. 
It would have come to us defiled and polluted by 
their sojourn in Egypt. But these two witnesses 
4 stood before the God of all the earth/ He never 
lost sight of them. He had said, 4 touch not mine 
anointed these two 4 trees of oil’ which supply the 
golden oil for keeping the lamp of the truth of God 
alive ,— 4 touch not these my anointed, and do my 
prophets no harm/ The command was disregarded 
—they were touched, but God did not allow them to 
be harmed. Their voice and authority, instead of 
being weakened, is strengthened by what was done 
to them. Of all the confirmations of the truth of 
their testimony, none is more wonderful than the 
witness which they give concerning themselves. 
They tell precisely the very time they were to remain 
killed and to lie unburied. They describe, minutely, 
the features of the power which was to silence them. 
They have been so killed, by a power assuming the 
name of Christ—by a power fulfilling, to the minu- 

2 


ANTICHRIST. 


355 


test point, what was prophesied of it. They have 
come alive again at the time appointed. 4 The little 
book is now open and John, as well as all the apos¬ 
tles and prophets, is now 4 prophesying again before ' 
many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings/ 
Coming with such authority—with such evidence 
of their heavenly commission, 4 Let the world hear, 
and all the dwellers therein/ 4 The Lord, the mighty 
God, hath spoken, once, yea, twice; and called the 
earth from the rising of the sun to the going down 
thereof/ He sent the apostles, personally, to bear 
the first testimony to the gentiles. Lie is now send¬ 
ing these two witnesses, the Scriptures of the Old 
and New Testament, like Elias (Elijah and Elisha,) 

4 before that great and notable day of the Lord come 
—lest He come and smite the earth with a curse/ 
Their voice must be heard, for a witness. Babylon 
herself must hear it. 4 Blessed are they that hear, 
and they that keep, the sayings of their testimony; 
for the time is at hand / 


356 


CHAPTER XXX. 


THE TIMES OF REFRESHING. 


Among other consequences of the moral and spiri¬ 
tual darkness which Antichrist brought over Christen¬ 
dom ,— 4 a great gulf has been fixed J between the 
ancient and the modern world;—such an interrup¬ 
tion or pollution of the stream of history and tradi¬ 
tion, and such a severing of sympathies, has taken 
place, that the old line of feeling and of thought is 
not easily resumed. When the spirit of life from God 
entered into the witnesses, and light began to dawn 
from them, upon a benighted and insulted world, 
the attention of mankind was almost exclusively 
directed to the corruptions of doctrines and of forms 
of worship, which the Man of Sin had effected. 
To the exposition and correction of these, the Re¬ 
formers and their successors have mainly applied 
the light of the Scriptures ; and truly the mass of 
absurdity and filth was so great, that there has 
been sufficient employment both for their time and 
their energies. To this course it seems to have been 
owing, that so little attention has comparatively 
been paid to some subjects, which, in the early 


THE TIMES OF REFRESHING. 357 

times, both of the New and the Old Testament 
Church, appear to have been uppermost in the minds 
of the disciples. In our day the subjects to which 
we allude are rather considered to form the higher 
branches of theology—whereas of old they seem to 
have constituted the first principles—the foundation 
on which Christianity rested, and from which its 
doctrines derived most of their importance and 
consolation. 

Of these ancient matters one of the most impor¬ 
tant, and one to which we have already referred in 
the course of this enquiry, was the doctrine of the 
Resurrection. It would appear, from the passages 
formerly quoted, that the views on this subject were 
in ancient times as simple as they were explicit. To 
the day of the resurrection of the Messiah first, and 
after him the resurrection of his people, all the wor¬ 
ship and feasts of the Old Testament pointed. As 
that worship and the law explanatory of it became 
corrupted, this ancient hope of the church became 
corrupted also. But when our Lord and his Apostles 
took away the veil from the Old Testament, we find 
the restoration of this primitive hope to be the 
leading object and design of their doctrine. 

When we examine their doctrine on this head, we 
find that the hope of the re-union of the soul with 
the body, is both vindicated as an ancient and 
primitive hope, and is explicitly set forth as the 
special and grand object for which the Lord Jesus 
died. We are far from saying that the hope of the 
resurrection is not now preached, as connected with 
the death and resurrection of the Lord of Glory. 


358 


THE TIMES OF REFRESHING. 


But there is a manner of speaking and of writing, 
by no means uncommon, regarding heaven , which 
makes this hope rather a secondary matter ; which 
would make it of very little consequence whether 
it were ever fulfilled or not. We repeat that we 
mean neither to assert that the hope of the resur¬ 
rection is denied, nor the disquisitions which are 
entered into, regarding heaven and the state of the 
soul there, altogether without foundation in Scrip¬ 
ture ; but if our limits admitted of quotations, we 
could very easily show that vague ideas of heavenly 
bliss are too generally substituted for the ex¬ 
plicit and often-expressed hope of the Scriptures, 
regarding the resurrection of the Just—a time of 
happiness and of joy, which is more than to com¬ 
pensate for the evil and distress of this life—a time 
of bliss to be enjoyed in the body , then to be raised 
in glory. 

Were this a mere speculative or doctrinal matter, 
however interesting or important, we should not 
consider it as coming within the scope of our en¬ 
quiry. But as the Scripture account of it not only 
vindicates, as we have seen, the faith of the elders, 
but affects the views we may entertain of the whole 
Christian economy, it deserves the careful attention 
of the reader. We shall not detain him by referring 
to those passages in the New Testament, in which 
the certainty of the resurrection of the body is 
plainly and clearly set forth. These are adduced, in 
all their simplicity and force, in the burial service 
of the church established Jn our country ; and are 
admitted by all, who do not affect infidelity, to be 


THE TIMES OF REFRESHING. 


359 


amongst the most beautiful as well as the most ex¬ 
plicit passages in the Scriptures. We wish rather 
to direct his attention to a few of those passages 
which point out the time of that resurrection as the 
period which was peculiarly the hope, the desire, and 
the expectation of the Apostles and Prophets. 

In the first place, we find the apostle Paul saying, 
that it was to that time that 4 the twelve tribes 
instantly serving God day and night hoped to come' 
When the Apostle Peter preached to the Jews, at the 
Beautiful gate of the Temple, he said, 4 Repent there¬ 
fore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted 
out when the times of refreshing shall come 
from the presence of the Lord ; and that there 
might be no mistake as to what time he meant, he 
adds, 4 and he shall send Jesus Christ, who before 
was preached unto you , whom the heaven must 
receive until the times of restitution of all 
things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all 
his holy prophets since the world began l* We had 
intended to bring forward other passages, but in 
quoting these words, we feel it would be doing in¬ 
justice to this grand preaching of the Apostle, were 
we to adduce one other word to prove that the hope 
of the morning of the resurrection was the hope of 
the church in every age. 

But when and how was this hope preached, by 
all the Prophets, since the world began ? We for¬ 
merly quoted acts and words, from the Old Testa¬ 
ment, which vindicate the language of the Apostle, 
respecting the antiquity and universality of that 
hope. There was another mode in which it was 


360 


THE TIMES OF REFRESHING. 


preached; that was, the appointment of typical 
periods of rest and refreshment. 

When God made the world, c he rested and was 
refreshed ’ on the seventh day. Now it deserves 
attention, that seven was, ever after, the complete or 
perfect typical number, as well as the number which 
regulated the feasts. The days of unleavened bread 
were seven. Seven Sabbaths were to be complete 
between the waving of the first ripe sheaf and the 
feast of Pentecost. Every seventh year there was 
to be a release; and at an interval of seven times 
seven years there was to be a year of jubilee, ‘the 
acceptable year of the Lord.’ 

These various uses of the periodical number 
seven , indicate, not merely the expectation but the 
preaching of a period of refreshing, in some man¬ 
ner connected with that number. It cannot have 
escaped the notice of the most superficial observer 
of ‘the signs of the times,’ that there is a general 
impression on the mind of the world, that the 
coming of the Lord draws near. It will be a 
striking fulfilment of the figurative numbers of reve¬ 
lation, if ‘that day,’ so much spoken of by the 
prophets, should be, in any way, connected with the 
seventh thousandth division of the years which the 
world is to witness ; remembering that an Apostle 
says, ‘ one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, 
and a thousand years as one day: the Lord is not 
slack concerning his promise (of coming again), 
as some men count slackness/ 

Considering prophecy, however, in whatever form, 
as given to confirm the Word of God when it is 


THE TIMES OP REFRESHING. 361 

fulfilled , and not to give rise to conjecture or to 
gratify curiosity, we should think it presumptuous 
to speculate on such a subject; at the same time, 
the connexion between that number and the com¬ 
pletion of prophecy, is deserving attention. 4 In the 
days of the voice of the seventh angel, the mystery 
of God shall be finished, as he hath declared by his 
servants the Prophets.’ 

Whether any thing typical may or may not be 
intended by the adoption of the number seven, of 
this we may be assured, that, as certainly as the 
rest followed the creation, so, in God’s own good 
time and way, there is yet a sabbath remaining to 
be fulfilled to his people. In the hope of this, his 
typical church observed his Sabbaths and his feasts ; 
and the same hope is revived in the New Testament 
church by his servants the Apostles. ‘ Even so, 
come, Lord Jesus.’ 

There is one practical conclusion, and an inte¬ 
resting one to the New Testament church, to be 
drawn from the ordering of the feast days under the 
Old Testament dispensation. In that ordering it 
was distinctly shown, that the first day of the 
week was to supersede them all. It is so generally 
thought, that we have less authority for observing 
the first day of the week, than the Jews had for 
observing the seventh,—and Antichrist, with her 
usual arrogance, vaunts so loudly of the authority 
of the church being the chief authority on which 
the observance of the Christian Sabbath rests, that 
the following circumstances are well worthy the 
attention of the reader. If the Jew would consult 


362 


THE TIMES OF REFRESHING. 


his own law a little more closely, he would find an 
attestation in it to 4 the day of the Son of Man,’ 
which would astonish him; and if the Christian 
would compare, more frequently, the Scriptures of 
the Old and New Testament together, he would find 
as little use for tradition as for the Talmud. 

In all the feasts of the Old Testament, the first 
day of the w'eek, or the eighth day, was the great 
day. At the feast of trumpets, from the first to the 
fourteenth day, two sevens, there were blowing of 
trumpets, and on the fifteenth day there w r as to be 4 a 
holy convocation.’ At the feast of tabernacles there 
were to be seven days of various offerings, then on 
the eighth day 4 ye shall have a solemn assembly.’ 
It was on that day, 4 on the last, the great day of 
the feast, that Jesus stood and cried, If any man 
thirst, let him come unto me and drink.’ 

Thus we see that the great day of assembling, 
churching, or congregating, w’as the eighth or first 
day of the week. This being appointed under a 
law typical in its nature, plainly intimated that 
‘another day’ was to be brought in, and that the 
seventh was temporary. 

But this was not all. The first ripe sheaf was 
waved 4 on the morrow after the sabbath ,’ that is, on 
the first day of the week. Then it is added, 4 ye 
shall count unto you from the morrow after the sab ¬ 
bath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the 
wave offering, seven sabbaths shall be complete ; even 
unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye 
number fifty days, and ye shall offer a new meat offer¬ 
ing to the Lord.’ This was the feast of Pentecost. 


THE TIMES OF REFRESHING. 363 

Now turn to the New Testament and observe—• 
1st. It was on the morrow after the Sabbath , the 
first day of the week, that the first fruits from the 
dead, Jesus Christ, arose. 2d. It was eight days 
after (viz., the next first day of the week), that the 
disciples were met together, and Jesus stood in the 
midst of them. 3rd. Forty days, or exactly six 
whole weeks according to the Jewish calculation 
(that was also on a first day of the week), the Lord 
Jesus ascended from Mount Olivet. And 4th. Eight 
days after his ascension, being the seven weeks 
complete, from the time of the first ripe sheaf, was 
the day of Pentecost, or the offering of the new meat 
offering—that was also the morrow after the Sabbath, 
or a first day of the week. On that day the New Tes¬ 
tament Church was 4 all with one accord in one 
place ; and offered the new meat-offering,—for they 
began on that day to 4 continue stedfastly in the 
Apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread , 
and prayers.’ 

We see from these things why it was that the 
first churches continued afterwards to come toge¬ 
ther 4 on the first day of the week, to break bread / 
and why it was called 4 the Lord’s day.’ It was the 
day the Lord Jesus arose—the day on which he 
ascended to heaven, and the day on which 4 the 
Spirit came down from on high,’ witnessing his en¬ 
trance into heaven, and connecting the New Tes¬ 
tament Church on earth with that in heaven. It 
was not only this; but in it was concentrated all the 
typical feasts of the Old Testament, 4 that great day’ 
of each and of all these feasts.—In the first day of 


364 


THE TIMES OF REFRESHING. 


the week, then, the Lord’s day, centres every thing 
that was typified of old in a day of rest. 

The seventh day of the Old Covenant was 4 a sign 
between God and his people.’ On the first day of 
the week the meaning of that sign or figure was 
revealed; and the first day of the week was sub¬ 
stituted for the seventh, not only to show that the 
temporary sign w’as fulfilled and taken away, but 
also that every sign of Rest and Refreshment was 
confirmed and comprised in the eighth or first day 
of the week. It is God’s rest; for the resurrection 
of the Lord Jesus on the morning of that day gave 
assurance to all men that Divine justice was satis¬ 
fied, and that the Father rested well pleased in the 
finished work of his Son. 

It is a day of rest and refreshment to all who rest 
satisfied with that finished work, which it is set 
apart to bring to remembrance. To those who are 
not satisfied , with that in which the good pleasure of 
Heaven is declared, it is no Sabbath. 

It is the antitype, too, of every feast: it is indeed 
‘ the great day’ of every feast; for the joyful tidings 
it brings are 4 life, and light, and joy, and peace/ 
It proclaims 4 liberty to the captives, the opening 
of the prison to them that are bound ; for the good 
news it brings, 4 delivers them who through fear of 
death have been all their life-time subject to bond¬ 
age.’ In the proclamation that death was unstinged 
by the Lord of Glory, the sound of the feast of 
trumpets and of the jubilee is heard. 4 Blessed are 
the people that know the joyful sound : they shall 
walk, 0 Lord, in the light of thy countenance: in 


THE TIMES OF REFRESHING. 


365 


thy Name shall they rejoice all the day /’ And as 
it brings to mind the resurrection of the first fruits, 
so it is an antepast of that blessed morning, when 
‘ the bodies of our humiliation shall be changed and 
fashioned like to his glorious body, according to the 
working whereby he is able to subdue even all things 
unto himself.’ 

In considering or in writing of a subject so full of 
happy remembrances and joyful anticipations, it is 
lamentable that there should be any thing to mar 
the harmony of the theme. But we should be un¬ 
faithful recorders of a religious history of man, 
however brief, were we to pass unnoticed the in¬ 
fringement of object and institution, to which the 
Lord’s day is subjected, even in Christian countries. 
We speak not of open unruliness on that day; for 
in the merciful providence of Heaven, the Lord of 
the Sabbath has put it in the hearts of the rulers 
of every country in which Christianity is professed, 
to protect his day, by the arm of the law, so far as 
the laws of man ought to interfere, from all open 
unruliness or disquiet. In the country, too, where 
we now write, the mild and tolerant spirit of the 
government, and the church establishment, not only 
permits every one to keep the first day of the week, 
as the Scriptures and their own conscience dictate, 
but set the example, and encourage all others,- to 
read the Scriptures, and to maintain an orderly and 
sober conduct on that day. We are not, therefore, 
among those who express themselves so sorely scan¬ 
dalised at the way in which the Sabbath is publicly 
desecrated in this country. Considering what hu- 


366 


THE TIMES OF REFRESHING. 


man nature is, and always will be, we should only 
be glad to see a continuance of the same quietness 
and sobriety, generally speaking, which mark the 
conduct of almost all classes on the first day of the 
week, in this country. What, rather than this, 
forces itself on our attention, while examining into 
the faith and hope of the Elders, is, how much their 
minds seem to have been drawn to the hope of 
4 the redemption of the body/ preached in the rests 
and feasts of old. With them it was all in figure; 
to us the figures are explained, and the hope of the 
resurrection is illustrated and confirmed, in the re¬ 
surrection of Jesus Christ. Yet it may well be 
questioned, if the first day of the week is held with 
us so much a day of commemoration , and of ex¬ 
pectation , as it was with them. Instead of using 
it as the Lord's-day, —as commemorative of his 
finished work, and of the hope of 4 a rest which 
remaineth’ to us through him,—how often are the 
animal feelings and passions of human nature substi¬ 
tuted, on that day, for operations of the Spirit of God; 
and the joyful songs and praises of the church of God 
of old, in anticipation of this blessed day, set aside 
for groanings which can be uttered, and noises most 
unlike 4 making melody in the heart to God !’ 

When the work, of which the Christian Sabbath 
is commemorative, was prophesied of, it was said, 4 the 
work of righteousness was to be peace , and the effect 
of it quietness ’ Whoever rests with God on that 
day, will be found praising and thanking Him 4 for 
his unspeakable giftbut not in the way of 4 crying 
or causing his voice to be heard in the streets.’ 


367 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE SCRIPTURES. 

From a wish to keep the course of argument as sim¬ 
ple and unbroken as possible, we have hitherto 
abstained from encumbering it with references, or 
with lengthened proof and illustrations, of matters 
which, to many readers, may have appeared to re¬ 
quire the production of authorities more numerous 
and learned, if not more conclusive, than those 
which have been adduced. 

It was originally intended to have supplied any 
deficiency in this respect by a body of notes, in the 
form of an appendix ; but the following consider¬ 
ations have weighed with us in substituting for it, in 
this concluding chapter, as plain an exposition as our 
pen can command, of the principles on which we 
have proceeded in consulting and in referring to the 
Holy Scriptures,—the only authority which ought, in 
such subjects as we have discussed, to have any 
weight with the writer or with the reader. 

The considerations which have induced the sub¬ 
stitution of this chapter in place of notes are these : 
our main object has been, to excite curiosity and 


368 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


enquiry into the subjects that have been before us. 
We have led the way into a rich field, by a different 
route from that which is generally taken. The emi¬ 
nence to which we have been anxious to conduct the 
reader, who has had patience to follow us, is one 
from which, experience has taught us, a more pleas¬ 
ing and less perplexing view of the stream of reli¬ 
gious history is to be obtained, than from less 
elevated ground. If we have been at all successful, 
in drawing even a faint outline of the scene which 
presents itself, every spectator has previously been 
more or less acquainted with the objects which com¬ 
pose it, and his understanding will testify to him 
whether the draught be consistent and satisfactory, 
or the opposite. If the former, he will,—we hope he 
will,—compare it, from time to time, with 4 the law 
and the testimony,’ either in his own language or in 
the original, as his knowledge or opportunity per¬ 
mit ; and it will be strengthened if true, and dissi¬ 
pated if false, by the application of that infallible 
test. If the outline thoroughly displease him, he will 
altogether and at once throw it aside : or, if thought 
worthy of notice at all, object in toto to the princi¬ 
ples on which it is conducted; or, if unsatisfactory 
to him only in particular branches of the subject, 
and in special instances in which there seem to him 
want of authority or a perversion of quotation,—he 
will, mentally or actually, correct the author by 
bringing in other authorities, or analysing, on differ¬ 
ent principles from those followed or acknowledged 
by the quoter, the passages to which he objects. 

It appears to us that all these cases will be better 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


369 


met, at present, by endeavouring to state concisely 
the grounds on which we conceive the authority of 
the Scriptures, in such matters as we have been con¬ 
sidering, rests ; the claims which the English author¬ 
ised translation of the Bible has on our regard, and 
the principles on which all references to it, or to the 
original, should be conducted. Such a course will 
be more satisfactory to any one unacquainted with 
the original; and it will better prepare the writer 
and his critics, should any so honour him, for con¬ 
tests in which his own humble and weak efforts will 
be of very little use to him, if he have not truth on 
his side. 

The evidence of the authenticity and authority of 
the Scriptures, is a subject that has employed many 
able pens. It is not our intention to attempt any 
recapitulation of the powerful arguments by which 
the external and internal genuineness of the Bible, 
as we now have it, has been proved. There is just 
one branch of the internal evidence it brings with 
it, to which we wish at present to allude, as 
more immediately bearing on the subject of our 
enquiry. 

The sayings of God, or, what is the same thing, 
the words of those who were authorised and guided 
by Him in recording his truths, whose writings his 
providence has preserved to us, are distinguished 
from all the sayings or waitings of man, by the depth 
of thought and of meaning in them. They are like 
the jewel spoken of by the wise man, which appears 
more lustrous and beautiful in every new position in 
which it is placed. At first view they often appear 




* 


B B 


370 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


unmeaning, mysterious, or dark ; and, in many cases, 
abound with what seem [redundant or superfluous 
expressions; but the outer surface once penetrated, 
a richness of thought and imagery is found beneath, 
which increases in beauty every time it is examined. 
New beauties are discovered on every search;—ex¬ 
pressions, which seemed at first superfluous, are 
found pregnant with meaning and illustration ; and 
the more closely they are investigated, and the more 
frequently they are appealed to, the more deeply 
does the conviction take hold of the mind, that 
4 never man spake’ or wrote as the Divine oracles 
speak. 

One cause of this has been briefly alluded to in 
some of the earlier chapters of this work, and shall 
by-and-by be more closely examined; in the mean¬ 
time, we shall endeavour to illustrate it by one ex¬ 
ample out of many. It is one which brings into 
contrast the apocryphal writings with the canonical. 

On a small oratory, within a Roman Catholic 
burying-ground, in the north of England, (and there 
may, for aught we know, be the same or similar 
inscriptions in other places,) these words, quoted 
from one of the apocryphal books, are sculptured 
above the door-way— 4 It is a holy and good thing to 
pray for the dead.’ Now, supposing this saying 
were as true as it is false, there is nothing what¬ 
ever about it to stamp its Divine origin; nothing 
which characterises it as a saying of that Scripture 
which is given by inspiration of God. In the first 
place, there are no other sayings of Scripture with 
which it is in accordance,—no others which illus- 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


371 


trate it, or which it serves to elucidate;—in the 
second place, it is a mere superficial assertion, 
containing nothing beyond what first meets the eye 
or ear. Turn it as you choose, investigate it as you 
may, nothing more can be made of it, or extracted 
from it, than that somebody, at some period or other, 
said that it was 6 a holy and a good thing to pray 
for the dead.’ Contrast this with any of the sayings 
of the Scripture concerning death; such as 4 1 will 
ransom them from the power of the grave what a 
fund of enquiry and of reflection is instantly opened 
up in such a passage ! Who is the speaker here ? 
Who can use such an expression as ‘ / will,* on such 
a matter : What is the nature of the ransom ? 
Wherein lies the power of the grave ? To these, and 
many such thoughts as such a passage gives rise to, 
the Scriptures give answers, so copious, so comfort¬ 
able, and so godlike, that the expression leaves no 
doubt from whence it came ; the closer it is exa¬ 
mined, the more clearly its Divine source is perceived, 
and the more valuable does the truth contained in it 
appear. 

The distinction between a saying of God and 
of man, which appears in this instance, may be 
more or less observed in every /part of the canonical 
books of the Holy Scriptures ; and, when tried by 
this test, every comparison between the apocryphal 
and canonical books will serve to convince us, that 
the care and providence of God have been very 
remarkably evinced, in the separation which is now 
effected between them. 

In former divisions of this enquiry, we ascertained 


372 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


that one cause of the richness of imagery and illus¬ 
tration with which the Bible abounded, lay in the 
metaphorical construction and origin of the lan¬ 
guage in which the Old Testament was written. 
But this is not the only cause; for some of the 
apocryphal books, as well as the Talmud and 
other writings, were composed in the same, or 
nearly the same language. The true origin of those 
qualities in the construction of Scripture, which 
distinguish it from other writings, will be found 
on attending to the purpose for which it was 4 given 
by inspiration of God.’ The Old Testament writings 
were given for a testimony concerning things to be 
fulfilled in the ‘fulness of time.’ As no matters 
were to be compared with them in importance,—so 
these things, to be fulfilled to the children, formed 
at all times, in whatever way the revelation was 
given, the subjects to which the pens, which inspi¬ 
ration guided, were directed. It did not always, 
at the time, appear for what purpose certain events 
were brought to pass, or why certain sayings were 
recorded ; — but the meaning afterwards became 
apparent. Thus, every lifting up of the veil of the 
Old Testament displayed always a part of the same 
rich prophetic view; and hence our Lord, instead 
of doing some stupendous miracle after his ascen¬ 
sion, to remove the doubts of his disciples, laid 
open to them the most amazing miracle which ever 
was performed,—the attestation which had been 
afforded to his sufferings and following glory, in 
every event brought to pass, and in every saying 
recorded by the Spirit of God from the creation 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


O/TO 

o {6 

of tlie world. 4 He expounded (or laid open) to 
them in all the Scriptures the things concerning 
himself.’ 

Having premised these few remarks with regard 
to the Scriptures, in whatever language they are 
examined, we may now refer to the translation of 
them into our own tongue; from which many of our 
readers may think we have, in the preceding dis¬ 
cussions, too frequently departed. So far from 
having done so, however, through any disrespect, 
we coincide fully in the general opinion regarding 
it, that it is as much to be admired for the fidelity 
of the translation, as for the general simplicity, 
elegance, and grammatical correctness of the lan¬ 
guage. It is not without blemishes; but these are 
comparatively few and far between ; and we cannot 
hesitate to avow a conviction, with most of those 
who enjoy the privilege of consulting it, that its 
place never has been, nor is it at all likely ever will 
be supplied, as a whole, by any other translation. 
It was made at a time when the English language 
was in its vigour, and when it approached more 
closely to the tenseness and simplicity of the original 
than it now does, or than perhaps any other modern 
language did at the time. 

There is one circumstance in regard to the English 
translation of the Bible, which, while it rather 
enhances it, in some respects, in our estimation, 
renders a departure from it, in certain instances, not 
only pardonable, but necessary. It is perfectly 
evident, throughout, that the translators entered on 
their task with no prepossession that 4 the testi- 




374 


THE SCRIPTURES* 


mony of Jesns was the spirit’ of the whole . That 
testimony is in some cases forced upon them; and, 
in those cases, they give it in a faithfulness of 
translation, and nobleness of language, that cannot 
be surpassed. But the absence of all such previous 
impressions, though it obscure many places that 
would otherwise have shone forth, as clear as others 
which they and all since have applied to the Mes¬ 
siah,—is an amazing attestation to the truth of the 
prophetic record; and ought to give great additional 
value to our translation, in the eyes of those who 
have it not in their pow y er to consult the original. 
Had the translators, proceeding on the impression 
that all the Scripture testimony had a reference to 
the Messiah and his kingdom, in any instance 
appeared to strain any passage to that effect, or left 
the least room for critics or hypercritics to say so,— 
the value of the translation would have been greatly 
diminished. But when, on turning to the critical 
labours of such truly learned and eminent men as 
Bishop Lowtli and others, we find numberless pas¬ 
sages in which a far stronger prophetic reference is 
proved to the New Testament than appears in our 
translation,—such a circumstance is calculated to 
give great strength to the evidence which the Eng¬ 
lish translation affords to those who can consult no 
other—that c the testimony of Jesus is the spirit 
of prophecy.’ 

Let us here just adduce one instance out of hun¬ 
dreds. Our translators, in the 34th Psalm, ren¬ 
der the 19th, 20th, and 21st verses, in which 
the afflictions of the righteous are referred to, as 


THE SCRIPTURES. 375 

the description applicable to afflictions generally. 
Dr. Kennicott, after a comparison of 233 manuscripts, 
and 93 printed editions, establishes, most incontro- 
vertibly, that the afflictions there spoken of, are pri¬ 
marily, if not entirely, the afflictions and sufferings of 
Him 4 who was wounded for our transgressions, and 
bruised for our iniquities.’ 

Such instances, while they free our translators 
from every bias, serve most decidedly to enhance 
their translation of the Old Testament in the estima¬ 
tion of every general reader, as a testimony to the 
truth of the Apostolic preaching concerning the 
Messiah and his kingdom. But they do more than 
this ;—they authenticate to the English reader, to a 
certain extent, every other instance brought under 
his notice, in which the same testimony is affirmed 
to exist in the original more distinctly than appears 
in our translation. The reasonableness of this is 
enforced by other considerations, to which we now 
wish to direct attention. 

The Hebrew language, in which the Old Testa¬ 
ment Scriptures were written, has reached us under 
very peculiar circumstances. The people who claim 
it, and to whom we would naturally apply for a 
key, used it, even in the time of our Lord, very 
much corrupted. At that time, as noticed in a 
former chapter, they had taken away the key of 
knowledge from the Old Testament Scriptures. 
This they could not have done with such a language 
as we previously attempted to describe, without 
injuring it; without substituting new, secondary, or 
tertiary meanings of words, for the primitive ideas 


3T6 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


conveyed by them. This was one of the ways in 
which they extracted the kernel from the law, and 
left the dry shell. If they did so then, what can we 
expect now ? Do they take any more just view of 
‘ the end of the law for righteousness’ now, than 
they did then ? Does not common sense teach us 
that the translation , as well as interpretation, of a 
word, or of a passage, from a dead language, must, 
in some degree, be influenced by what we conceive 
to be the general scope, meaning, and design of the 
book in which we find it ? Yet the lexicons and 
grammars to which we are, in some measure, com¬ 
pelled to refer, are the compositions of a people as 
dead to the real beauties of their own language, as 
they are deaf to their own prophets,—a people 
whose view of their own God and their own law, 
was and is unworthy of God and disgraceful to 
themselves. 

Fortunately, some early translations that w T ere 
made of the sacred writings of the Jews, the refer¬ 
ences to them in the New Testament, and other 
circumstances, have contributed to leave us not alto¬ 
gether at the mercy of the Jews, for a knowledge of 
the sacred tongue. The wonderful thing is, that 
even from these limited sources, none of them alto¬ 
gether pure, so much of the primitive meaning of the 
Bible has been laid open as to place ‘ the scope of the 
law for righteousness unto every one that believeth’ 
so plain, that he who runs may read; and which 
none deny but those who will not look at it, or who, 
to obtain a name for talent and originality, affect not 
to see it. 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


377 


As already noticed, the Rabbinical, or otherwise 
uncertain sources, from which Hebrew grammars and 
lexicons have been compiled (according to which 
compilations the English translators were of necessity 
in some degree guided), has led, in many cases, in 
their translation, to the adoption of secondary mean¬ 
ings instead of primary; and, there is little doubt 
also, has produced entire mistranslations, through 
words having been placed in the lexicons under roots, 
with which, it is obvious to every reader, they never 
could have had any connexion. Something has been 
done, by linguists of great eminence, to rectify some 
of these malappropriations of words; and we cannot 
think of any thing more calculated to give weight to 
the Scripture testimony concerning our God and 
Saviour—of any thing more calculated to give the 
reader of the English Bible assurance that that testi¬ 
mony is truly reported to him by our translators— 
than that every correction of error or mistake, proves 
more and more clearly the Divinity of that Saviour 
to whose advent Moses and all the Prophets bore 
witness. Much, however, remains to be done in the 
same path. / 

That the English reader may not suppose that 
such corrections are directed by caprice or prejudice, 
it is proper to notice, that the principles which 
guided such critics as Lowth, Kennicott, and others, 
were chiefly founded on comparisons of the uses of 
the same word in different passages. This is the 
secure path, in which their labours were so amply 
repaid. Were it possible to enter on such investiga¬ 
tions with a previously well-digested arrangement of 


378 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


the roots alone of the language, and refer every deri¬ 
vative to them at once, instead of being at all guided 
by their present position in the lexicons, much light 
might be thrown, particularly on the earlier portions 
of revelation. But it is our conviction, that a pure 
list, or one approaching in any degree to purity, of 
the primitive roots of language never can be looked 
for, until further progress has been made in the 
investigations of some others of the very ancient 
Eastern tongues; which, there is great reason to think, 
were branches from the great stream of language, 
which broke off not very far distant from the foun¬ 
tain-head. 

In any cases, in the preceding chapters, where 
we have departed from the English translation, in 
references to the Bible, we have endeavoured to 
state, we trust to the satisfaction of the scholar as 
■well as of the English reader, the reasons for such 
variations, and the principles which guided us in 
making them. In every case the highest authorities 
were consulted, and the variation certified by a com¬ 
parison with the other passages in Scripture in which 
the same term was used. In the course of such 
investigations, many most striking and singular cor¬ 
roborations of the views laid before the reader came 
incidentally under notice; but they could not have 
been brought forward without lengthening the dis¬ 
cussions, and loading them with a quantity of learned 
quotations, which, for the reasons stated in the 
introduction, it was our study to avoid. Should 
opportunities afterwards offer, of laying them before 
those to whom they might be of interest, we shall 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


379 


have pleasure in doing so, whether in confirma- 
ion of what has been advanced, or in reply to 
objections. It would be worse than presumption to 
suppose that no mistake may in any case have been 
committed : but so firm is our persuasion, from every 
investigation of the sacred language, of its divine 
origin, and divine adaptation to preach in anticipa¬ 
tion the truths of God,—that we have no doubt 
every removal of a mistake regarding it, on our parts 
or that of others, will lead to a clearer development 
of the gracious purposes for which it was given. 

Among the corroborative circumstances which, 
thus incidentally, came under notice, there is one 
which we shall here refer to, for three reasons : first, 
because it is capable so far of being explained to the 
English reader; secondly, because, though simple in 
itself, and at first sight of no great moment, it is not 
unimportant as it affects the previous discussions ; 
and, thirdly, because we observe, on glancing over 
the chapter relative to the dispersion of mankind 
after the Flood, it has in part been referred to with¬ 
out explanation. 

The matter to which we allude is the translation 
of the word Kedem. It is rendered by our transla¬ 
tors the East. That it had this meaning in a second¬ 
ary sense, there is no doubt; but there are circum¬ 
stances which as clearly show that it had not always 
this signification. 

When the builders of Babel chose the plain of 
Shinar, it is said they lighted upon it as they jour¬ 
neyed ‘from the East’ Now Mount Ararat, where 
the Ark rested, and in the neighbourhood of which 


380 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


the peopling of the world must have begun, was to 
the westward of the plain of Shinar. When they 
left Armenia, therefore, and found that plain, they 
must have been going, not from but towards the 
East. Our translators, aware of this inconsistency, 
say, on the margin, eastward; and justify this re¬ 
versal of the adverb by referring to the case of Lot 
and Abram ; because when Lot went from Abram, 
who was between Bethel and Hai, he must have 
gone eastward, and not from the East. It is curious, 
however, that in both cases those that were going 
away were leaving the same thing—the altar of the 
Lord, or the place of his worship. Noah built an 
altar to the Lord when he left the ark, and it was 
that place the people were emigrating from, Abram 
built an altar to the Lord between Bethel and Hai, 
and it was from thence that Lot went out. Be it 
observed, also, that the word Kedem is said, even in 
the Rabbinical lexicons, to signify ancient , of old , 
and some other collateral meanings. When to these 
things another circumstance is added, viz., that the 
same word is applied to the place where God’s pre¬ 
sence was denoted at Eden by the Cherubim, there 
is strong evidence afforded that the word Kedem 
had respect, not to the situation of the places the 
emigrants were going to, but to the places they were 

lea vino-. 

© 

This instance will serve to show that it is not on 
trivial grounds we have, in any case, departed from 
the English translation of the Bible ; and how much 
reason there is to believe that such enquiries as we 
have been engaged in would be benefited, and the 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


381 


principles on which it has proceeded be justified, 
by ample discussion, and the fullest enquiry into the 
etymology and early use of the sacred tongue. 

Our remarks must now draw to a close. They 
have, first and last, proceeded on the superior 
claims, even in matters of philosophy or history, 
which the Holy Scriptures possess over all other 
writings. These Scriptures have hitherto held a 
secondary place, in some matters, only from want 
of due consultation; and have been deemed, by 
many, inconsistent, dubious, or mysterious on other 
matters, by being more frequently appealed to for 
sectarian or party purposes, in support of certain 
doctrinal views of a speculative nature, than con¬ 
sulted as witnesses to the great designs of Provi¬ 
dence in regard to the human race. 

One of the consequences of these witnesses having 
been so long obscured from the world, in a dead lan¬ 
guage, was, that, on their re-appearance in the lan¬ 
guages of the nations, partial and imperfect views 
were taken of the nature of their testimony. Matters 
of faith had been converted into what were called 
‘holy mysteries'/—in other words, the credence of 
any matter of faith was not to arise from its clearness, 
but from its darkness—it was to be believed, not 
because it came in all the majesty, brilliancy, and 
simplicity of truth, and was ‘ worthy of all accepta¬ 
tion/ but because it was incomprehensible and in¬ 
credible. As the mists of antichristian darkness 
dispersed before the light of truth, this delusion 
wore away; but it was curious how long the traces 
of it were visible on the minds of mankind. Some 


382 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


nr. sterious ideas still seemed to linger, regarding the 
Faith and Hope of the Scriptures ; and nearly as 
many shades of opinion arose regarding them, as 
there were texts in the New Testament; for every 
opinion could find a text to its purpose, when it was 
picked out from the context—taken away from the 
subject which it was intended to illustrate—and set 
up, by itself, in the most advantageous position for 
the wrangler. Thus nearly as great 4 a mixture’ 
came out of Babylon, as ever had existed in her; 
and thus she became well entitled to the name of 
4 Mother.’ She talked very jeeringly of these par¬ 
ties ; but she ought to have remembered that they 
were her own progeny; whose minds she had early 
imbued with legends worthy of the nursery, instead 
of teaching them 4 from their childhood the Holy 
Scriptures, which are able to make wise unto sal¬ 
vation.’ 

In the preceding pages we have made a humble 
attempt to convey to others something of the 
pleasure we have experienced on consulting these 
Scriptures; not in order to ascertain how far they 
support this or the other system of religious opinions, 

f 

but to learn from them something of the opinions 
of those whose lives and sayings were considered 
worthy of being recorded by the Spirit of God. 
From what we found therein recorded, it appeared 
evident that there was some one great purpose of 
Heaven to which all had been subservient. That 
purpose, we saw reason to conclude, was the dis¬ 
covery and illustration of the character of God, as 
the just and the merciful—as the God who not only 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


383 


keepetli covenant and mercy for ever, but who makes 
evil itself subservient to that mercy. This key 
once obtained, there was consistency and beauty 
imparted by it to all the record. The creation of 
the universe, and its order and arrangement;—the 
creation of man, and the gift of speech to him, where¬ 
by the objects of creation w^ere rendered illustrative 
of the designs and doings of Heaven ;—the entrance 
of sin, and the introduction of the curse and its 
antidote;—the destruction of the old world and the 
dispersion of the new;—the choice of a separated 
people;—the revelation made to them, and their 
rejection of it, yea, their rejection of the Lord of 
Glory himself;—the preaching of the Gospel to 
the Gentiles, and their corruption of it;—the murder 
of the witnesses, and their resuscitation ;—all are 
seen bearing testimony to the certainty and truth of 
the Word of God,—the unchangeableness of his 
own character as revealed in his Son,—and the 
strength of the foundation on which the faith and 
the hope of the Scriptures rest. 

There are none who have looked, or may be in¬ 
duced to look closely into the Scriptures, for illus¬ 
trations of the same subjects who will not be asto¬ 
nished at the richness of the prophetic vein which 
lies beneath the external surface. So far from 
thinking, as they proceed, that there is any danger 
of over-estimating the extent of the figurative in¬ 
struction which was given of old, touching these 
matters,—conviction will arise, at every step, that we 
never can again, in this world, obtain more than a 

glimpse of the abundant store of metaphoric teach- 

5 


V 


>, 


384 


THE SCRIPTURES. 


ing which was provided by God ere his purposes 
were fully developed in his Son; from which source 
the language was prepared in which these purposes 
were declared. In the Scriptures, as in all the 
works of God, Infinity is one of the marks of his 
presence and power; and we never can investi¬ 
gate, or refer to them, without feeling that no 
language which man can use, can adequately de¬ 
scribe any one of the countless pearls with which 
they are enriched. 


) 


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